The Doors to Freedom
by Torchix
Summary: What if Gemma hadn't been found by that mystery person? This story follows her journey through Monoko after a year of isolation in forests throughout the region, with new friends and a goal of revenge. At least one pair of OCxOC
1. Chapter 1

**[Summary: What if Gemma hadn't been found by that mystery person? This story follows her journey through Monoko after a year of isolation in forests throughout the region, with new friends and a goal of revenge.]**

**The Doors to Freedom**

The Monoko Region, Pokoh's sister region that resides just a few tens of miles off the coast of the larger region. It's filled with deep forests and mysterious locations. There are just enough towns for the majority of the gyms, and small towns and even smaller beautiful villages that hold contests more than once a year. And many, many trainers travelling around collecting these badges and ribbons as well as whatever other achievements they want to go for. Filled with new Pokémon and myths that span millennia, the Monoko region truly is the home of legends and lore. This place is heaven for researchers and a beautiful place for children with all their fantasy dreams. But there's a darker side to the region, those who claim to help are in fact the region's enemy, and some of those innocent trainers burdened by this hidden Enemy.

Two such people walked out of the forests beside the entrance to the starter town of the region, Budbloom. Home to Professor Fir and Professor Pine's laboratory, and a beautiful, albeit small, Pokémon reserve. Fir and Pine both delve into the research of Pokémon's DNA, their gifts, and their ability to evolve. The two weren't interested in that though, all they wanted was to get through the town.

"I'm scared Nate…" The girl said, her hands wringing nervously, brushing against the red sweatbands she had on her wrists multiple times. Her light sandy coloured hair had a few twigs in from the trees, which the boy with her pulled out as he stood in front of her, brushing the two braids that hung by the sides of her face – one dyed red, the other black – behind her ears, and fixed an escaped braid from the bun created from multiple braids, before grabbing her wrists, a movement that from anyone else would make her flinch, and looked at her, leaning a bit to cover the nearly whole foot height difference.

"There's nothing to be scared about, Gem." The boy said, his dark blue hair blowing in the wind, the two black streaks down the sides seeming to have a somewhat life of their own compared to the movement of the rest of the hair. His blue eyes were reassuring, and he was giving the girl a small smile.

"But my parents…" Her grey eyes, tinted red, shone with a hint of tears behind her glasses, the sides thick and black and decorated with white roses and green vines covered in thorns.

"Might be here, or might not be. If you see them, tell me, and I'll hide us either behind a building, or at least hide you behind me, okay? Don't fret so much." The boy smiled, brushing away the tears and then pointing to her shirt, "What happened to 'Never gonna break me', huh?" He said, referring to the writing on her white turtleneck shirt, written above a heart of her own design, covered in bandages and Band-Aids and stitches. A lot of it was hidden by her black leather jacket, with a sewn white rose with blood stains and burn marks on the back. She smiled at the boy, and nodded, letting his black leather gloved hand grab her bare hands. He was in a similar jacket to her, just without the rose on it, and had a plain, long sleeved grey t-shirt beneath it. His pants were dark blue, and he had a pair of black boots on.

The girl moved so they were standing side by side, her reluctantly dropping her friend's hand, brushing over the hard section where a metal plate resided, and shoving her hands in the pockets of her black jeans, a similar design to that of the one on her glasses down the left leg, and she took a deep breath.

"I'm just scared that if I do meet them again… they won't want me anymore, because I'm a freak…" The girl sighed, before feeling her hand behind grabbed from inside her pocket. She looked to the boy, and he gave her a stern look.

"Don't think like that Gemma. How many times have we had to convince you of that?" The boy said. Gemma smiled weakly, before giggling.

"You can't say you didn't feel the same at first, Nathen." Gemma said, smiling still. Nathen shrugged.

"Guess I can't argue with that point. Now come on, shorty, let's get the supplies we need and move out of here as soon as possible." The boy said, starting to walk off, not letting Gemma's hand go. The eleven year old blushed a bit and followed after him.

These two are Nathen Pierce and Gemma Ashmore, two trainers who are now due to travel around Monoko. Gemma strives to be a trainer and coordinator, to enter the League and Grand Festival, with her team of Pokémon, a Monoko native girl. And Nathen, a Pokémon trainer not from the Monoko region, but from another region called Solace, a trainer striving to win the league. Both also have another goal, a goal to bring down the Enemy of this beautiful region, a goal of revenge.

"How many supplies do we need?" Gemma asked. Nathen shrugged.

"We can just buy the usual amount, a few bits of this and that, and plenty of food. You eat us out of it veeeery quickly." Nathen grinned. Gemma blushed and looked down, wringing her hands again.

"Heh…"

"Come on, let's get this stuff, you want to be out of here ASAP, right? So we better hurry. We can do some training on the road." Nathen said. Gemma nodded, before she grinned and suddenly jumped on the elder boy's back, making him slump for a split second, but he was back up in less than a second, hooking his arms under her knees and grinning at her again, before rolling his eyes when she gave him a look for being so fast, "I know, I know, I can't help it."

"I count myself lucky on one thing, I only have one implant. Now come on, trusty Arcanine! Run, run, run!" Nathen sweatdropped, giving her a look.

"If that were anyone else…" He muttered before shaking his head with a chuckle and running off.

~X~X~X~

In another part of the small starter town, another girl was entering the calm streets from the port, where she had recently exited the boat that went from Unova to Monoko, a long journey I have to say, it stops at three different regions on the way! But anyway, the girl walked through the border that meant she was officially in Budbloom, and in the Monoko region.

"Here I am… Monoko, where I came from… this is going to be some journey. I hope I can find somewhere to stay, that journey was torture." She let out a big yawn and stretched her arms back above her head, emphasising her point, "Well, time to look around."

She ran her hands through her long red hair, the ends of it somewhat resembling the ends of a Blaziken's blonde feathers, and then started to wander around the friendly, albeit it slightly dark streets, under the cover of the canopy of trees that just about let in enough light for the town. She smiled politely at the locals and dodged kids as they ran around the town playing tag, and from what she could tell the occasional kiss chase. She looked around with wondering brown eyes at the new place, and occasionally glanced up into the sky when she saw a break in the trees, always looking disappointed when she saw nothing.

Her brown shoes scuffed against the ground as she walked slowly through the town, her blue t-shirt blowing in the wind that still managed to get into the town, and her running shorts weren't adequate cover to stop her shivering when the wind got cold, the purple skirt layered over it not helping in the slightest. She considered removing her wristbands and giving herself a bit more warmth, but the town was still too crowded for such a display.

"I wonder how Cheren and Bianca are doing on their next journey…" She pondered as she looked around, glancing to the sky again as she remembered her friends, "It's too bad they didn't want to come here too, but they did say that this was my journey to complete, as there's more to it than just the journey this time…"

This girl is Holly White, she's lived in the Unova region nearly her whole life, and has been on one exciting journey already so far! Her friends Cheren and Bianca are both currently travelling in a different region to her, whilst she came here, to Monoko, in search of not only another lost friend but also something even more vital. Her own past. The girl had been adopted at a young age by a woman native to Unova, but she had never known much more about her past than it had something to do with a region called Monoko. She has her own secrets, her own link to the enemy of the beautiful region she had now reached… not that she knows that of course.

"Well, this should be a fun and interesting journey, even if I don't find anything out at least I'll have had an adventure." Holly said cheerfully as she continued through the town, toward the Pokémart for supplies.

~X~X~X~

"So, we got the supplies. Now we just have to make our way out of the town, and damn well quick." Gemma said, now walking beside Nathen again with her bag newly packed with supplies. Nathen nodded.

"I know, we can get out of here now, I know you didn't want to linger here. You made it very clear. Though… I don't see why you don't want to see your family again, I'd give anything to see my family… to even remember them." He said, shoving his hands in his pockets. Gemma gave him a sympathetic, and somewhat empathetic, smile.

"I know Nate… but you'll find out what happened to you one day." She said. Nathen smiled back.

"I hope so, Gemma, I hope so." He said, reaching for her hand again. Gemma gave it to him, and squeezed it. "Come on, let's get out of this 'dreaded' town."

They started to walk through the town, not letting go of each other's hands. Even if both caught the looks from people and blushed deeply, their hands never disconnected. When suddenly Gemma spotted someone's look, not 'aw, such a cute teenage couple' look, a look of shock and utter disbelief of what they were seeing, and her eyes widened in a similar fashion, and she suddenly hid herself behind Nathen before the people had chance to look her over more. Nathen was confused, and oblivious he moved out of the way of her and turned to face her.

"What's up with you now?" He said. Gemma didn't answer, eyes still wide, just looking at the people who were now still looking at her. He looked back, and still confused at first didn't get the looks the three were giving to each other, before he saw the resemblance between Gemma and the adults, and cursed under his breath, shoving Gemma onto his back quickly and running off at inhuman speed through the streets. Luckily for them the town was still small, and not many people were out, but he was sure he'd knocked down at least two… maybe three people. Okay, maybe it was like five but he couldn't help it. Any other moment he would've stopped to help them and say sorry, but if Gemma didn't want to see her parents then he had to move.

They finally came to a stop behind a building, modern looking, and Nathen let Gemma down, not even panting from the speedy dash from the Pokémart to what appeared to be the Lab. Gemma immediately wrapped her arms around the boy, whimpering.

"Gemma…"

"They… they saw me, Nathen… now how can I avoid them?-!" Gemma exclaimed. Nathen put his arms around her too, and sighed.

"They'll see you on the TV in contests anyway, Gemma…"

"You know full well I decided to use a stage name for that, Nate."

"That doesn't stop you from being recognised, they're your parents, they know you well enough to see you and recognise you, what just happened proves that." Nathen said. Gemma looked up at him, before sighing and stepping back.

"I told myself I'd get through this… and look at me, I'm already a nervous wreck." She said, looking to her feet and wringing her hands around her wrists yet again. Nathen grabbed her wrists and stopped her doing her nervous little quirk, knowing in her emotional state if she knocked off her bands then her flames would easily light up by themselves. "Nathen… I'm still too scared…"

"Hey, how about we just get out mind off this? We must be by the lab now, and we need to get you a Pokédex, and maybe one of the new Devices they're making here."

"But…" Gemma tried to protest, but Nathen was on a mission now to try and cheer her up, not thinking about what might be in the lab. He took her hand again and lead her inside. Gemma tried to protest, but whilst she was grateful she just had the one implant, Nathen's extra ones gave him more strength and she could get out of his hold on her hand. "I hate it when he gets rash…" She muttered to herself, before starting to pray to god that the thing she dreaded would not be there.

They walked into the building, and were greeted with a room filled with technology, a lot of it seeming to be for display out the front, as the items got more advanced as they walked further in, and they could hear a panicky female's voice.

"Oh no, not there! Oh man, not again! Please don't explode, plea-…" The voice was cut off by a tiny boom, and the two gave each other a look, before running into the room. There was a small cloud of smoke, and the voice was coughing. Someone else ran into the room after the two, and wafted the smoke away, before going over to the other woman who was sitting on the ground, covered in residue from the explosion, and with her glasses wonky.

"Oh boy, Fir! You blew the Move Editor up _again_?" The newest woman said, her hair was brunette, and cut into a pixie cut. She looked young, but was dressed in a Lab Coat, meaning she was likely the professor in the laboratory, along with the other woman who was slightly older and also dressed in a lab coat.

Fir laughed nervously and scratched the back of her head, her hair a deep green in a messy style that looked more like she'd just woken up than a style in actual fact. She adjusted her glasses, and stood up a little clumsily, brushing off her lab coat.

"I guess I did, heh…"

"And you're the older one out of the two of us…" The other said with a sigh and a shake of her head, rolling her green eyes. The other professor laughed nervously again, and took her glasses from over her brown eyes to clean them.

"Sorry Pine…"

"Are you okay?" Nathen then spoke up. The professors looked to the two trainers now.

"Oh! Trainers! Sorry about that, my cousin here isn't exactly the sharpest professor in the toolbox." Prof. Pine said with a dismissive wave of her hand.

"And neither are you for thinking of that phrase, which makes no sense." Fir said as she crossed her arms. Pine just rolled her eyes again, and looked back to the trainers.

"So, why're you here? Pokémon? Pokédex?"

"Pokédex thanks. And to be able to set up a link here so we can swap Pokémon." Nathen said, referring to himself for the last bit, he knew Gemma would likely take it easy on the Pokémon capture on her first journey, but that doesn't mean he had to.

"Alright, Pokédex Upgrade, or a new one?" Pine continued.

"Both. A new one for my friend, and an Upgrade for mine." Nathen said, gesturing to Gemma who gave a little wave.

"Follow me right this way, we do all that stuff in our trainer room. Fir, come on, you can set up the link." Prof. Pine continued, before walking out of the room.

"Don't mind her, youngest or not she's the strictest one here." Fir whispered to Gemma and Nathen before following Pine. Gemma and Nathen both sweatdropped, before looking at each other then following. Gemma was feeling a bit nervous again now, the trainer room could easily hold the thing she didn't want to see.

They wandered into a room filled with Poké Balls on shelves, some full and some empty. There were several computers connected to transporters, and a video phone or two. There were piles of bags of Pokémon food, and drawers with various labels on. Prof. Fir walked over to a computer.

"Hand me your trainer licence, please." She said to Nathen. He dug into his pocket and grabbed his trainer licence, handing it over to the woman who put it into a slot on the computer and let it scan in the information. Pine went into a drawer and pulled out a somewhat rectangular device, thick and long, that just curved at the bottom, to fit over something. She came over to Gemma, and fitted it against her arm, some mechanical straps coming from it to attach it to her arm.

"There, perfect fit. Now, this is slightly similar to one of the designs used by another region, but it's not the same exactly. The screen is this here," Pine said, gesturing to a currently black square on the top of the rectangle, "And two more screens pop out of the sides, they hold additional Pokémon images and information," She continued, now pressing a little red button on the predominantly white and black device, making two screens pop out of either side, still both currently blank, "Also, that dip here' she gestured to a circular dip, coloured black, 'Is for scanning in Pokémon's info, and for sending them to us, to swap them. Your friend can also use this application if he inserts his licence. And as a last feature, our newest device also attaches to this, the Pokémon Organiser, PokéOrg for short. It can record videos, it gives the Pokédex a Video Phone Application which is can also use when not attached to the Dex, and holds your map, as well as many other features."

"Cool…" Gemma said, looking it over. She pressed the on button, and grabbed one of her Poké Balls, a Pokoh Native Pokémon called Nixiona, who she calls Rylee. She placed the Poké Ball on the scanning dip, and on the screen appeared a Pokémon about the size of a Pidgeot, its head is red, and it has four wings, coloured light orange with golden tips. Its beak has a golden sheen to it, and so to its talons. Its underbelly is yellow, and there's golden plates on the tops of its legs, and short golden feathers on the back of its head. On the side screen, it held a male image of the Pokémon where the golden feathers were longer.

**_Nixiona/o, the Phoenix Pokémon and evolution of Nixwing. When male, Nixwing evolves into Nixiono, when female it evolves into Nixiona. It is a confident battler with a sense of responsibility, but with a mischievous side of it. It is said that they and their pre evolutions descended from the legendary Phoenix of the Monoko region, Pheoknight. _**

"Got that right." Gemma observed casually.

"Of course it does, it's a Pokédex." Pine pointed out. Gemma sweatdropped.

"True…"

"Alrighty, all set up, and your upgrade's done too!" Fir said, handing over the items to Nathen. He thanked her and put them back in his bag and pocket.

"Hey, is there anyone in here?" a girl's voice called.

"In the third room on the left!" Fir called back to them. A minute later a familiar girl popped her head in. Holly. She looked around the room, then smiled.

"Hi!"

"Um… Hi?" Gemma said. Holly stepped into the room, and went toward the four.

"I'm Holly White, I've come from Unova, and the locals told me to come here for my Pokédex upgrade and possibly a Pokémon Starter from here." Holly smiled, waving.

"That's quite a journey." Nathen said, "I'm Nathen Peirce, Solace Native."

"Solace? Never heard of that region to be honest with you. I've been in Unova most of my life." Holly said, shrugging, "Nice to meet you though, who's your little friend?" She asked, gesturing to Gemma. Gemma had gone into shy mode, looking at her feet. But she looked up when she heard 'little', "Sister?"

"Oi! How young do you think I am?-!" Gemma exclaimed. Nathen sweatdropped, and put a hand on her shoulder, subtly sending a calming aura through her.

"She's called Gemma, she's from this region. And don't ever call her little, she's a bit sensitive about her height, she's eleven. She's not my sister, we're good friends."

"She looks about 9… spare the clothes." Holly said, before getting the message from Gemma's glare to shut up, "Heh, sorry Gemma. Well, nice to meet you as well."

"Guess I can say the same… not the best start though." But Gemma, despite saying this, did manage a giggle. Holly smiled, then look to Fir and Pine.

"So, can I get an upgrade and Starter? Oh, and a switch link." Holly said to them. Professor Fir nodded.

"Of course! Hand me your Trainer Card and Pokédex, Pine can sort you out with the starter of your choice. We don't have any trainers due, so it should be fine." Fir said. Holly handed over the requested items, as well as one Poké Ball. "Oh?"

"My Stoutland, to start the link and also so I can keep the starter with me." Holly explained, before going over to the brunette professor, who was pulling out three Poké Balls. Gemma started to tense up at the repeated mentioning of the starter Pokémon.

"Very well. Come here then, these are the starters." Pine said, holding three Poké Balls and standing by a table where the Pokémon would sit. Gemma tensed ever more. "First, there's Water, Merbble, this one is the male form."

She opened one of the Poké Balls, and out popped a Pokémon maybe around the size of a baby. Its tail merges into its body so you can barely see the difference despite the colour, its body is humanoid but it has scales on its arms, and it only has three fingers and a thumb. At this stage both have a symbol on their chests in the shape of a trident. Its tail is a dark, deep ocean blue, the fins on the end in sharper shapes and opaque, same around the top of it and on its arms and ears. The scales on its arms are dark blue too. Its eyes are purple, and its hair is short, choppy and the same shade. The male Merperson Pokémon looked up at the trainers, before looking down at its fins, shy.

"Cute." Holly commented. Nathen held his Pokédex up to the Pokémon, seeing as Holly's was yet to be upgraded.

**_Merbble, the Merperson Pokémon. Merbble and its evolutions are said to be the decedents of the true mermaids of legends, though the myths about the legendary Mermaids faded. Merbble are generally very shy, but when with someone they trust they are playful and joyful. When threatened, they will not hesitate to attack._**

"And now Grass."

She opened another Poké Ball, and out of it popped a small Pokémon. It even the size of an average real foal, it is small. Its main body is very light brown, and has a tiny horn of a pale yellow colour slowly starting to form on his head. On its back there are little stubs where wings would be, and there's a pale pattern on the coat under them in light yellow that seems to be the shape of feathers. Its eyes are a wide, light yellow. It looked up at Holly in particular now, and smiles sweetly, letting out a neigh of its name.

**_Pegaseed, the Wingless Pokémon. Pegaseed is a playful Pokémon, and despite its lack of wings at this stage it is forever trying to fly. This Pokémon is favoured by coordinators, due to its cute appearance and future forms._******

"Now that one looks good… I think I might go with her, she's cute, and I do need a grass. But I'll see the fire type first." Holly said. Gemma was praying she didn't need to when she heard the start of her sentence, but the end bit made her prayers stop and her body tense again, hands starting to wring her wrists once again.

"Very well, here's the fire type." Pine said, opening the last Poké Ball and letting the fire type starter out onto the table. Gemma bit her lip, not wanting her mind to force her into the reaction she knew was coming.

A small, cute little wolf pup had appeared. He had small ears, and a short snout with a highly sensitive nose, his eyes were deep red but at this stage – being only a pup – its eyesight isn't all that good, and thus its eyes seem out of focus. Its main fur is a deep charcoal colour, with a tint of red, whilst its tail is a long burning flame, which curls around its body to keep it warm when even its natural heat can't do the job. Its paws have a flame around them, but its weak and barely noticeable. Around its eyes are white patches, like a smoke cloud around them.

"Olf?" The little Embolf said, looking at the group, mainly at Gemma, with its red eyes, and grinning a sweet grin.

"Aw, I think he likes you." Holly said. Gemma couldn't take it now, the memories piled on her and she couldn't stay there any longer, she tore out of the room at full speed.

"Wha… oh crap how could I be so stupid?-! Gemma! Gem! Wait up!" Nathen said before running after her. Holly was confused for a second, before turning to the professors.

"I'll take Pegaseed. And have you finished with my stuff? I doubt I'll be coming back for it." She said. Fir nodded and handed over the items, and Pine gave her the Pokémon's Poké Ball, after returning Pegaseed. Holly clipped the Poké Ball to the sides of her bag where she kept all her Pokémon, then ran off without another word.

"They were a lively bunch!" Fir said. Pine facepalmed.

~X~X~X~

Gemma ran and ran, she wasn't nearly as fast as Nathen with his Arcanine DNA, but any Pokémon DNA implant added to your speed… unless it were something slow like a Slowbro or Snorlax, of course. She cursed the horrid group who had done this to her and her friend over and over in her mind and aloud as she ran. She hated them, hated them with all her heart… or maybe not all, there was a tiny space for love for a select few people and Pokémon… the largest space for someone in particular.

She shook her head, tears starting to form, the happy thought of a certain boy was pushed away by the horrid memories of what those… those… _bastards_ had done to her precious, loyal little partner who stuck with her when her Bunnop and Hopare didn't. And seeing that Embolf, so cute and innocent, looking at her just like her own used to, it tore her heart to shreds all over again. Why the hell didn't she just let Nathen take her to another region? Somewhere that wouldn't be so heartbreaking?

She stopped when she reached a clearing just outside of town, collapsing to her knees and sobbing hard. She punched the ground and tore off her bands, just about not breaking them. Flames burst into light on her wrists, and her ankles soon joined them, not even her tears putting the fires out. She punched the ground harder and harder before suddenly she heard a dark voice.

"Well well. Lookie here, a fire type implant. Can't say exactly which, but you must be quite uncontrollable, kiddo." The voice said, it was male. Gemma looked around frantically, standing up.

"Wh-Who's there?-!" She exclaimed, powering her flames more, tears not stopping.

"Seems to be a bit of a cry-baby too." The voice continued, before a man stepped into view. He had ice blue hair, with a white fringe, his eyes were ice blue, and he seemed to have ice around his wrists that was now growing to form up his arms. He was in a plain black t-shirt, and his trousers were orange with a Black stripe down the side that formed half way down into a zigzagged E. Gemma whimpered recognising the uniform, and knowing all too well what he was. "You must be a runaway agent."

"I-I w-was never on-one of you!" Gemma sobbed, flames flaring more. The man just laughed, and a ball of ice formed in his hand, "I-I can melt that!"

"Whatever you say, cry-baby." He snickered, before going to fire the ball of ice.

~X~X~X~

"Nathen! Hey! Slow down Mr. Speedy!" Holly called. She was running at inhuman speed too, but she wasn't quite as fast as Nathen was.

"Holly? What the…?-! How are you…?-!" Nathen exclaimed.

"Looks like we have something in common. And I bet Gemma has something similar in common with us too, right? Explanations later, we better find Gemma. What set her off? Embolf?"

"Explanations later, just like you said. But I don't think she'll want to talk about that. You're right though, we gotta find her, who knows who could be in this wood." Nathen said, speeding up, not slowing.

"Hey! I'm not as fast as you!" Holly said, before pushing herself to run as fast as she possibly could. She just about reached him, lagging behind by only a couple of feet. "Are we getting close?"

"Hm… I think we might be, I can feel her aura an-… oh shit! Run faster!" Nathen said, speeding up again.

"I can't run faster! Ugh…!" Holly groaned, forcing her body to push all her energy into the run. "God what is he…?"

"We're almost there! Just a few more… here!" Nathen said, before coming to a sudden stop, dead still without any skidding or effort. Holly, on the other hand, skidded a foot or so in front of him before coming to a stop. Nathen could see Gemma now, and the man who was with her, and the man could see him and Holly. He smirked, and without a word he suddenly grabbed Gemma, holding her by her neck and pushed her head back, forming a dagger out of the ice he controlled and pointing it to her neck.

"Well well, more of you."

"You… you Existence members… you're just as bad as…" Nathen growled, and stopped before finishing. The man smirked. _Great… we just got here and already we've ended up facing them… this is just not our day…_

~X~X~X~

**Me: How was this? It won't be updated for a while, probably, due to me needing to finish the Pokédex and towns and general stuff before I can really continue. But, there is no open to OC policy spare to Legendary Fairy and Final Heir, who are probably my best readers, you're all great but they help a lot behind the scenes too. You can tell who's is who's. This is mainly an introduction to the characters, so… Oh, and Nathen, I hope the Pokédex design isn't too similar to yours.**

**R&R!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Me: Here we go, sooner than expected I hope, but its only because I didn't need all that much info for this chapter, just a few Pokémon that I designed easily, and I have the first town sorted for if they get there too, so… *shrug* Anyway, here we go!**

**Chapter 2**

"Now now, kid, don't even think of finishing that attack." The man said, spotting Holly was trying to form a Flamethrower – something she wasn't all that used to doing. Holly gritted her teeth, having been praying the man wouldn't notice her clumsy attempt, before putting it out, not wanting to risk the near stranger girl's safety. The man's smirk just grew. "What luck, I find three escapees at once! The boss will be pleased!"

"Like we're letting you take us to your stupid boss!" Nathen snapped, fists clenched, barely stopping himself from forming aura around his hands to throw at the man holding his best friend hostage right in front of them.

"Feisty one. Looks like you have a number of implants, my boy. Look, if you want your little girlfriend to come out of this alive, then you will come with me. If you want her to die, then fight back, I don't really have objections either way." The man said in an arrogant tone, that annoying smirk still present on his face. Nathen's fist clenched tighter, nails digging into his palms through the material of his gloves, flames threatening to light up beneath the part that covered his wrist. He didn't want Gemma hurt, but there was no way he was going to let this man take them to the leader of the team that had caused her so much misery, and caused him a great deal of shit too. He looked to Holly, she was looking pretty angry too, but she didn't know Gemma, she likely didn't even know who this man belonged to, even if somewhere in her past she had been one of their many experiments.

Holly felt a pendant around her neck begin to shake. It was a white stone on a golden chain, a 'lucky pendant' was what she always told people. She gripped it quickly and muttered something to it, and soon it calmed down, settling to a complete stop. She sighed in relief.

Gemma whimpered, the ice felt extremely cold to her, her body normally so warm due to her implant, but her outer body wasn't warm enough to melt the ice as it pressed to her pale, freckled neck, she couldn't defend herself, not even against an _ice_ type! Why must she be so useless? She was intrigued when she saw Holly preparing that attack before, and wondered what Pokémon she was implanted with, but knew now was not the time for thinking about things like that, she should just be grateful she was a fire type. Surely with three Fire types, they could beat this guy, right?

_Oh god what if I do die? I saw my parents today… I saw them, gave them hope I was… alive… what if I die?_ She thought, tears welling in her eyes, _Nothing is going right! Nothing is working how it was supposed to! Why can't I escape my past for even a single day?_

"Nathen, what do we do?" Holly whispered. Nathen's teeth were gritted, and he spoke through them.

"I don't know… this guy is serious, I can tell… any other day three fire types like us could take him down easy… but he's got Gemma… and that dagger is still plenty enough to kill her, ice or not…"

"How do you know he's not bluffing?" Holly asked. Nathen looked at her out of the corner of his eye with a hard stare.

"Believe me; these people do not bluff… I have seen what these people and their somewhat allies can do… they don't stop at anything to get what they want…" He hissed, fists clenching tighter. He was trying to suppress the aggressive side of him, he didn't want to end up being the cause of Gemma's death or injury, but it was hard when all he wanted to do was tear the stupid man to shreds.

Gemma tried to think of a safe way to get out of the man's grip, a safe way to save herself, but nothing was coming into her head. She couldn't do anything, she felt so weak. So helpless. The tears in her eyes began to flow, and pitiful sobs broke through her lips. The man started to laugh loudly hearing this, an icy sound.

"The little girl's crying! Oh how pathetic! I've never known us to choose such a wimp!" The man cackled. Gemma continued to sob pitifully, but a new emotion was rising in her. A wimp? A _wimp_? They were the ones that made her this way and he had the nerve to call her a _wimp_? Sure he didn't know her circumstances, but she was not letting someone who belonged to the damn team who caused her all this shit get away with that.

Heat began to build beneath her skin, at the temporary sacrifice of more of her eyesight, and soon enough she could feel the ice cold water running down her neck, soon being evaporated before it even reached her collarbone. The man didn't seem to notice this, but Nathen must have because soon the gritted teeth separated, and were replaced with a relieved expression. The man was obviously confused by this change of face. Then, he felt the ice warming up in his hand, and the handle becoming lighter and thinner. When he looked, he saw the melting dagger was all but gone, and Gemma's tears had all evaporated and left red marks from the salty water behind. Soon after, his hands became too warm to be comfortable for his ice type nature, and he let out a loud hiss of pain, letting her go.

"Gemma!" Nathen called. Gemma stumbled for a moment, a little dazed from the heat she had pushed through her blood, and soon fell straight back into Nathen's arms. He wrapped them around her quickly, and helped her stand up straight, allowing her to lean against him, and then looked up at the man.

"My god…" The man muttered.

"You're the pathetic one here, your whole team is, Blizzopard." Nathen said, guessing quickly at which Pokémon he was merged with. The Blizzopard human snarled.

"We will win one day, boy; we're stronger than any average trainer. We're much stronger." He said in his ever arrogant voice, eyes hard.

"How are you strong, really?-!" Holly piped in, "You attack defenceless people and turn them into freaks of nature? I don't know as much about you as these two must do, but I see what you are, you're cowards! You're just as bad as every other team out there, if not worse!"

"One day you'll see it our way. One day everyone will be under out rule." The Blizzopard man said, before fired a Blizzard attack, making it impossible to see where he was going to run, and then took off.

"Heat Wave!" Holly ordered herself from within the snowy wind, releasing the wave of extreme warmth and melting the blizzard only moments after the man made his getaway. Neither of the three even let off a shiver.

"N-Nathen…" Gemma whimpered, looking up at him. He lifted her up into his arms now, sending a calming aura though her. She relaxed against his chest, the heat pulsing through her calming down considerably, sending her to an almost normal temperature.

"Is she okay?" Holly asked, peering at her. Gemma smiled at her.

"She should be. He didn't hurt her at all; she's just not used to using the amount of heat, not when it's not in an attack at least." Nathen explained, then looking back to his friend, "Well done… you saved yourself this time, 'ey? You're no damsel in distress, are you?" Gemma giggled a little.

"I guess not… I… I just got angry when he called me a wimp, you know… after all they put me through…" She cut herself off, not wanting to think about it again, "Sorry for running off like I did… I thought I'd gotten past that…"

"It was my fault, Gem. I forgot." Nathen said with a shake of his head, "But don't worry, you don't have to see it again, okay? And we're going to steer clear of that guy who just grabbed you."

"Not to burst your bubble, guys, but won't that guy now go and report him finding us to his boss?" Holly suggested.

"Shit… he will… we really didn't need to be discovered this soon… um… we need to find somewhere to rest for a couple of hours now, I believe we all have explaining to do." Nathen cursed before quickly changing the subject from their impending discovery by the very people they wanted to avoid.

"Can we… go to… my parents?"

This request shocked the boy carrying the short eleven year old, and he looked to her with confused eyes. Gemma looked back up at him, with a small smile.

"It's just… I want them to know I'm okay… I don't wanna die and have them not know I was alive in the first place… plus… Existence… they don't know where my parents live… they found me in a wood…" She lightly fiddled with the burnt skin around her wrists, and Nathen quickly looked around for her wrist bands.

"That's a great idea, Gemma. You should see them." He said, still scanning for her bands. Holly tapped him on the shoulder and shook them in his face, before handing them to Gemma, who thanked her and placed them back on over her burnt wrists. "You're welcome to come, Holly. You're as much in this as us."

"Do you think I could… maybe travel with you too? I don't know anyone here; I came here alone to find out about my own past…" The red headed girl replied. Nathen nodded.

"That would be fine. It could be one hectic journey for you now though."

"It would be anyway since they saw me, I must have something to do with them if you two do, and I'm like you." Holly said, giving a little sigh, "I never expected to find out anything so soon, I should be relieved, but I'm not…"

"We can explain everything we feel comfortable with doing so whilst at Gemma's parents' home." Nathen said, patting her shoulder. Holly nodded at him, brushing her hair over her shoulders again and adjusting her bag. She patted the 'lucky charm' around her neck, and smiled a little.

"You can put me down, Nate… I need to show you the way." Gemma said. Nathen nodded, and gently set her on her feet, grabbing her waist as she stumbled a little, then letting go when she got her bearings. Gemma grabbed his hand, and Holly's wrist, and with a last look behind her, as if feeling she was being watched, she turned and ran back toward town.

~X~X~X~

**_A Small Home, Budbloom Town…_**

"Was that really her, Markus?" The woman who spotted Gemma earlier said to her husband as she paced around the room of their little home. Her brunette hair was short, a classic motherly cut, and she had blue eyes, framed by glasses. The man sighed, shrugging his shoulders, his hair was a stress induced grey colour, and his eyes were grey.

"I don't know, Carol, I don't know… we've had so many false alarms…" Markus said. The motherly woman, Carol, looked at her feet as she tried to busy herself, walking to a cabinet and pulling out some Pokémon food. A Pokémon walked into the room, hearing the rattle of the food. It let out a happy bark.

It was a tall, humanoid figure that's about 7ft in height. Its main body is covered in charcoal coloured fur, but on its chest you can see that there are tough muscles beneath it. It has paws for feet, but humans' hands with claws for nails as hands. Its snout is longer than its previous forms, but still not too long, and the fur on the back of its head is the most ragged, a lot like long human hair. Its eyes are deep red and can see clearly. Its ears are red, and the tips resemble fire. Its fur is extremely ragged, and its tail is made out of a bright burning flame, and it has flames around its ankles and wrists. One eye has a white smoky cloud around it. This Pokémon is the final form of Embolf, Infernolf.

But when it saw the look on its owner's faces and sensed the atmosphere, it frowned a bit, letting out a confused bark of its name.

"It's nothing, boy, just eat up." Carol said as she poured a bowl of Pokémon food for him and put it on the table. He was too big to eat on the floor. He sat at one of the chairs and literally began wolfing it down, and yes, that pun was very badly intended. "I hope she comes here if it was her… I miss her."

"We both do. But chances are, we were seeing things or made a mistake." Markus sighed.

"She looked back for just as long as we did, then ran off! What if that guy kidnapped her?-!" Carol exclaimed. Infernolf was giving shifty looks to his owners now, still eating, throwing the food casually into its mouth without even looking.

"We'll never know now, Carol. Please, leave it." Markus sighed, sitting next to his Pokémon. The unusually upbeat werewolf Pokémon slapped him on the back, but just received an annoyed grunt. He frowned.

"Fernolf…"

"Markus! We can't leave this! I know my daughter and that was her! And that boy ran off with her after she saw us! He must have kidnapped her!" Carol insisted, Markus about to reply to his wife before another voice interjected.

"No, mom, he didn't kidnap me… far from it, he saved me."

The two suddenly turned hearing this voice, and their eyes widened seeing Gemma standing in the middle of the room with Nathen on one side, gripping her hand, and Holly on the other side. Gemma waved a timid hand.

"Hi… long t-time n-no s-see, h-huh?" She stuttered out, a couple of tears in her eyes as she looked at her parents. They looked at her without words. "Y-You l-left th-the k-key w-where y-you a-always d-did…" She said, answering an unimportant silent question.

Then before another word could be said, her parents were up and hugging her tightly, neither of them letting her go. Gemma burst into happy sobs, smothered by her parent's arms again, and nuzzled close into them. Nathen and Holly smiled at the scene, though Nathen had by far the biggest smile. This was the happiest he had even seen her. He hoped that, now, she would stay just that little happier being able to stay in contact with the family she had been missing for three years, but knew that the deep running scars from the duration of those years were not going to heal up from this alone.

"Gemma! Oh my little girl!" Carol sobbed. Markus wasn't crying, but he looked like he was close to tears. They loosened their hold just a little, looking at their daughter, "It really is-is y-you… oh-oh my god… Wh-What h-happened? Wh-Where d-did you go?"

"I-I got lost… in-in the woods… s-someone found me… I… I-I c-can't s-say it-it a-all, it h-hurts t-to m-much… B-But I-I missed you…" The girl stuttered, tears still falling. Her father brushed them off her face, and ruffled her hair. Gemma giggled and squirmed. They were just the same as she remembered them. Her mother pulled her in for another hug, and then over her shoulder, she could see that her father's Infernolf, who she had also missed dearly, was looking around for someone. She gently pushed her mother away, and went towards him as he stood up.

"Olf? Infernolf? Ernolf?" When saying the final word, he strained to try and make it sound like 'Embolf?', but Gemma knew what he meant without that, and just hugged the giant Pokémon tightly, sobbing. It didn't take much for him to understand, and he hugged the small girl back. She let him go, gave him a little smile and standing on a chair (on her tip-toes) kissed the tip of his snout. He smiled.

"What brings you back? How did you get away from who found you?" Markus asked, taking his daughter's hands to let her down from the chair. She jumped down, looking up at her father.

"Nathen saved me. He found me. I escaped the person alone, but I was lost again and he found me and helped me. He's my best friend…" She looked back to her friend, and smiled sweetly, getting a smile back.

"I'm Nathen Peirce, I'm glad that she's got to see you again. She's missed you a lot, truly. I envy her having such good parents that she'd miss you so." He said. Gemma pouted at him.

"Stop smooth talking my parents, Mr. Gallant pants." She said in a childish tone. Nathen just laughed.

"Thank you for taking care of our daughter… I don't know how to ever repay you for that." Carol said.

"No need, Gemma is a nice girl, a good friend, it's been rather fun knowing her so far." Nathen said, waving a dismissive hand. Gemma ran back to him and playfully smacked him over the head.

"And now you're smooth talking me! Sheesh!" Holly sweatdropped at both of them, but giggled too, this journey would sure be fun. Gemma then turned to her parents again, "Can Nathen, Holly and I rest here for a couple of hours? We need a place to just rest up, and we need to talk about something."

"Of course you can! Stay here, tonight, it's getting late, so stay here before moving on, please. And keep in touch when you're gone." Carol said. Gemma smiled.

"I wouldn't dream of doing anything different, Mom."

~X~X~X~

_Creak, Creak, Creak, Boing!_

"Yay! This is so fun!" Gemma cheered as she bounced up and down on her old bed, which embarrassingly she still fit into, despite the three year age difference. She was in a long black t-shirt with a pair of red bottoms beneath it, but they're shorts and barely visible beneath the huge shirt. Nathen walked in wearing his a pair of black PJs, and sweatdropped at her as he laid out his sleeping bag. "What's that for? I'm only having fun!"

"You are such a big kid." Gemma threw a pillow a him after this comment. "Thanks, I'll keep that one."

"I am a kid, Duh! I'm only eleven, and I missed three years of my younger childhood because I couldn't be a kid! So there!" She continued to bounce. When she was a kid she always worried that when she was older she'd bang her head on her ceiling doing this… of course, at her height, she didn't. Nathen laughed.

"You're still small enough to be a kid, that's for sure." He quickly received a smack around the head from another pillow. "You want a pillow fight?"

"…Not after last time! You pummelled me!" Gemma said, bouncing on the bed still but putting the pillow down.

"Did I just hear Pillow Fight?" Holly said with a light giggle as she walked in, dressed in a pair of white PJs, with a Leafeon, Eevee, and Glaceon on the front.

"Don't encourage him, his implants make it way too easy for him to win. What're you by the way?" Gemma said, never stopping bouncing.

"Casual way to bring that up." Nathen said as he sat on his sleeping bag. Gemma smacked him with a pillow again.

"Shuddup you!"

"I'm a Blaziken, I think. I've got the wrists… and once when I went to kick something when I was younger my foot lit on fire… like a Blaze Kick." Holly said as she laid out her own bag. She took another pillow from Gemma's bed, leaving her with one, then put it on the bag. "It freaked a few people out, but nothing too bad, no one shunned me for it. A few kids thought it was really cool."

"I've only ever shown Nathen what I can do to be fair… and most of my stuff is boring… but I wouldn't have any other implant, even if I hate having one in the first place…" Gemma sighed, bouncing stopping now as she just let herself land in a sitting position on the edge of the bed. Nathen patted her knee. "There's a lot about my implant I resent, actually I resent all of it except who it brought me to…" She smiled at the older boy.

"I don't even remember when I got mine… all I know is I came from this region, but was found one day by a lady called Maya White, who I now know as my mother… I don't know who my real family is, that's why I'm here. To find out." Holly explained, "I don't want to talk about some things, though."

"None of us want to reveal everything, don't worry. Like don't ask Gemma about the incident where she ran off, and there's a great deal of my past that I don't even know too." Nathen said. "That's what comes with being forced into what I was forced into… becoming a member of something I never wanted to. Becoming an experiment and losing two of my Pokémon…"

"I was a normal girl before what happened to me… I didn't have what happened to Nathen before happen to me… he's even more on the run than I am." Gemma sighed, leaning back on the bed, looking at the ceiling.

"I'm sure we'll find out more about each other as we go along too, right? Since now we're all on the run at least from the people who're the boss of that guy…" Holly said, rubbing her eyes with a yawn. "Man I'm tired… that journey here was a long one… and I got no sleep whatsoever…"

"I'm just tired from all that's happened… we haven't done much travelling." Gemma said, nudging Nathen's hand away from her knee as she pushed back the childish printed covers of the bed and slipped inside. Holly clambered into her sleeping bag, letting out another yawn. Nathen chuckled at them both, clambering into his own one. "Night Holly, Night Nate."

"Night Nathen, Night Gemma."

"Night girls."

Holly fell asleep first, brown eyes dropping then shutting, leaving her in a peaceful sleep, hands holding the white stone around her neck. Gemma's eyes began drooping next, before they even closed her gentle snores were heard. Nathen chuckled as he yawned, gently pushing her eyelids closed quicker as she was obviously already half asleep. She muttered a thank you before her snores took over and she was obviously asleep at last. Nathen rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling, covered in glow in the dark stickers and childish drawings that couldn't find a space on the packed walls. He felt like he could see what Gemma was like before everything happened, and for the first time realised that, despite everything, she was still just a girl, just as innocent as the next, just with tainted memories. He prayed that, for all of them, the future wouldn't be so tainted.

~X~X~X~

**_Meanwhile..._**

Two very different people were entering the region in two very different ways. Two people equally important to this tale, yet both on utterly different sides, one on the side of good, and one on the side of the people who seek to harm the land of Monoko and Pokoh, though not entirely willingly. First, we join a young woman, looking around 18years of age, as she steps off a _Pokémon Ranger Union_ run boat, waving a thank you to the captain as it sailed off. She was grateful they'd given her a ride, she wasn't technically on duty now, so they didn't have to help her get to Monoko.

"It's been so long since I was here... my home... I wonder how much its changed... can't have been that much, surely, it never did..." She smiled a little, brushing her blonde hair over her shoulders so it didn't blow into her face as the sea air hit her. She closed her green eyes, and just took in the sounds of the island, smile never leaving her face. This was her home region, despite living in Almia for a couple of years, and travelling for six. This was her real home, and just maybe this was where her lost little sister was.

"Pachi!"

She opened her eyes, smiled at the Pachirisu that was resting on her shoulder, and looking to her arm she quickly pressed a few buttons on the styler she had been using to talk to fellow elite ranger, Keith, on the boat journey from Almia. It shut down, and she placed it in her white bag, checking she hadn't left anything on the boat whilst she was at it. Confident she had forgotten nothing, she closed it again and starting to walk into the now sleepy Budbloom town.

The wind inside the tree-covered town was chillier now than it had been that afternoon, so she pulled her white jacket tighter around her, shivering a little, wising her blue shirt was long sleeved, and that her jacket was thicker. Her black mini-skirt didn't help matters, and she wished her blue leggings were jeans instead. Monoko's chilly nights were something she really hadn't missed about the place. Why couldn't the Ranger Union have gotten her there earlier? Ah well, beggars can't be choosers, she guessed. She heard her partner Pokémon, Electra the Pachirisu, yawn on her shoulder, and reached to rub her head.

She kicked some stones with her black boots as she walked, hitting a few street lamps and making a 'ching' sound as they did. She needed to stay somewhere for a night, and she likely didn't know anyone in town at the moment, so she decided to see if there was a small inn or a Pokémon Centre room. She wandered around, thinking to herself, fiddling with the locket she wore, the settled just about her chest. It held the last picture she had with her little sister, the last picture all her family had with her little sister, before she went missing when she was so young. She'd only been nine herself at the time, and had missed her sister dearly, she'd promised to search for and find her sister every time she went on a journey, but the second part of the promise never succeeded. Electra patted her head and gave her a smile, as if saying she'll succeed soon.

She found an inn that was still open, and digging into her purse she walked inside. She went to the desk and was greeted by an elderly lady with a wrinkly smile and false teeth, but with sweet eyes.

"Yes dear?" She asked the younger woman.

"A single room, please." She said in a mature voice, digging more into her purse. The old lady smiled.

"Of course dear. Name?" The lady asked as she pulled out the sign in book. The young woman took out the needed money and handed it over.

"Annette Kamiya, miss." She said politely, brushing her hair back again and rubbing her eyes, yawning. The Lady took the money and write down her name and room number before handing her a key, Annette thanking her for it and walking up the old stairs to the rooms, flinching at the creaking noise. She took off her jacket the second her door was opened and hung it up on a hook, yawning again, and placing her bag down, slipping off her boots. The journey had been a long one, and she hadn't got any sleep on the boat (they'd left her with a trainee captain who was being instructed by a normal one), so she just flopped down onto the bed without even changing clothes, resting her head on the pillow and slowly drifting off. Electra sat on the pillow by her head, before slowly falling to lay down, just as tired as the human.

This is Anne Kamiya, a girl born of Monoko but who moved away to Almia with her parents. Her sister was taken at the age of three, and she has never stopped looking for her. She won't stop now, but she didn't have a much hope as she used to, she didn't think she'd find her sister, she didn't expect to, but part of her still hoped.

She opened her locket and stared at the picture holding her mother, father, herself, and a little toddler with red hair.

**_Elsewhere…_**

Inside a dimly lit base, a bright light flashed from a chamber as a teleported agent was arriving in the base. The glass door was opened and a girl no older than twelve stepped out, though she seemed to only be the height of our heroine Gemma. She saluted a pair of men who stood there to greet her, the pair dressed in orange and black.

"Finally you arrived. Do you know your assignment?" One of the men said. The girl nodded, visible dim red eye not betraying much emotion towards her 'assignment' whilst in front of the two commanders. The hair that covered her right eye was light blue, that reaches down to middle back, which also forms out like a Gardevoir's mainly around the head area.

"Yes, sir. Retrieve runaway specimen and agent Peirce, sir. Preferably returning him to base alive, but if the subject struggles or is too much hassle, damage or disposal is permitted, sir." She replied in a mature, professional voice, the tone she had to use with commanders or face injury.

"Very good, Agent Ralts. I understand you have all you need for this mission, correct? And your Pokémon are fully rested?" The other man said. Agent Ralts nodded again.

"Yes, sir. Civilian clothes are in my bag, sir, and Pokémon are all fully rested. I have all I need to stay in contact with the base, and am completely confident that Agent Peirce will listen to me, even if lies are needed, sir." She said. The men both smirked and nodded.

"Good. A room is supplied for you to change to your civilian clothes, then you may stay overnight here or head into town, to stay in a local inn."

"A local inn may be more beneficial, sir, so I can get used to trying to fit into a Monoko town." She just didn't really want to stay in this place, truthfully. She'd actually rather sleep on the streets if it meant not staying in this base. She was only doing this mission because she missed 'Agent Peirce'.

"Very well, go change and then go, Agent Ralts."

She walked away, not showing emotion still, and exited the room with the two commanders in, walking down a dull hallway, knowing where the room would be. She brushed her hair so it didn't tickle her nose, when she heard something in a room on the way. She decided it was best not to peer inside, she didn't really want to know what was going on in this damn base, it couldn't be anything good. She reached the door she needed, and pressed her hand to a scanner by the door, which beeped and made the steel sliding door sink into the wall, opening the way to the bland room.

Sighing, the girl took her bag off and placed it on the bed, opening it up, and pulling out the clothes she needed. She removed the black beret from her head and placing it in the bag's pocket. She ran a comb through her hair a couple of times, then reached down and pulled off her tight, knee length black boots, putting them at the bottom of her bag, her long white socks soon joining them. She stretched her legs for a moment, yawning, she may not have had a long journey but it had been a long day of mission briefing and training back at her original base.

Her blue-violet leggings soon joined her shoes and socks in the bag, shortly followed by her short black skirt. She picked up and pulled on a pair of mid-shin length leggings instead, these ones coloured blue, and slipped on a white skirt over them, covering to just above the knees.

Next to be removed was her black short sleeved shirt, a large violet 'U' that labelled her as one of TUA's members despite how she was unwillingly one of their number. She then removed a blue-violet long sleeved shirt beneath it, piling it into the bag with the rest of her clothes. She replaced these with a white shirt with an orange triangle in the centre, and pulled on a dark blue jacket with the same triangle on the back. Then to finish off she pulled on white ankle socks, and a pair of white running shoes. She did her bag up, and slung it over her shoulder, sighing.

This girl is Maylu Ralts, raised by a family of Ralts evolutions after a narrow escape from attackers after an 'accident' in which her parents were lost. She lost her parents twice, her Gardevoir mother and Gallade father lost to make her how she was today, she only had her 'siblings' left now, who she never left behind. She is by no means willingly in Team Universal Aura, or willingly submitted to the experiments, but she had no choice, just like a lot of people. She knew Nathen, and now it was her job, to bring him back.

Maylu rubbed her temples once, taking a deep breath, before walking out of the room and going to report in once more before she left on her assignment.

She passed by that room again, but still didn't look in. The noises were louder, though… so let's take a peek.

There was a strange glow coming from three large tubes, where three figures resided. In the one closest to the door was a girl, no older than twelve, with rounded wings sticking from her back, her hair short and pink with green tips, she was wearing nothing and curled up in a ball, seeming to be a very short girl, only about 4ft.

The second one held a boy, his hair was red with blue-green streaks, he was also wearing nothing, but his limbs seemed to be longer than normal, despite his age of 15.

And the final one held a girl of thirteen, with blonde hair with a green fringe, and two green sections at the side of her face, she too was in nothing, but if you looked close there was a line on her stomach, like a scar, but it also looked like… a closed eye.

A man in the room looked at the three with a smirk, satisfied, "The specimens aren't failing… our first legendary implants may finally be a success."

~X~X~X~

**Me: …And I didn't need nearly as much as I even created… *facepalm* Well, anyway, I got it done! Yay! The two new OC are property of Legendary Fairy and Final Heir respectively, and both have big parts in the story. Well, hope it's good!**

**R&R!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Me: New chapter! Yay! *cough* Anyway, to the Anonymous reviewer… I'll have to think about including that OC, I had originally planned for it to be only for Final Heir's and Legendary Fairy's OCs, so I need to think it over, sorry.**

**Chapter 3**

_HOOOOOONK!_

"Whaaaaa…?-!" A very shocked, dazed and drowsy Holly exclaimed as she bolted up in her sleeping bag, eyes half closed and looking like a Pichu who'd just been cornered by an Onix, shocked by the sudden noise.

"What the hell was that?-!" Nathen said in a slightly groggy tone as he too was blasted awake by the loud sound. Gemma only sat up with a loud yawn, stretching her arms out behind her head, cheeks a little flushed from the heat that always was much more present in her body in the mornings. She then reached across…

…And turned off her Hydruck alarm clock.

"That… was your alarm?" Nathen said incredulously, giving her a strange look. Gemma shrugged.

"Hey, I'm a heavy sleeper, and you know it. That was what it took to wake me up when I was younger!" She said, pouting and then giggling, jumping up on top of her bed and bouncing again, springs creaking in an annoying rhythm. Nathen sweatdropped, standing up, locking his fingers and stretching them behind his head as he cracked his back, then looking at the girl with one eyebrow raised higher than the other.

"That is beginning to get annoying."

"So? I'm not stopping!"

"Oh really? You'll stop in a minute!" Nathen said as he playfully tackled her. Gemma squeaked in shock but then giggled. Holly sweatdropped at the two. The two were really very close, she could tell that, and it looked like the preteen girl brought out the playful side in the fourteen year old. Holly was sure this journey would be fun, even if they would be on the run from Existence.

She sweatdropped more as Gemma tried to wrestle Nathen away, failing miserably, and then turned to the large window in the room, opening the panes and stretching her head out of it, her long hair blowing around in the wind that ran through the trees of the town. She leant on her arms, and peered up at the sky, looking to spot something again, just as she had when she arrived. She sighed sadly not seeing anything, not that she could see through the trees, and what little of the bright sky above that was visible betrayed nothing, nothing that she wanted to see. The Blaziken girl pulled her head back into the room, and turning she saw Gemma had finally managed to pin down Nathen, though she guessed that Nathen had just let her.

"If you two are finished, we need to get dressed and get going. Plus, I can smell bacon downstairs." Holly said, grabbing her bag so she could go get dressed in the bathroom. She'd try and look out of the window again in there, but she'd just get the same result.

"Bacon?-! Mom's cooking bacon?-! Oh hell yes!" Gemma cheered as she jumped up, before grabbing Nathen and shoving him out of the door, giving him his clothes and banishing him to go to the bathroom instead.

"Hey!"

"What? There's no way you're staying in here! You're a teenage boy! Just go to the bathroom! Geez!" Gemma called out, before giggling and just running to grab her stuff. "I'll get changed behind my wardrobe, I'm pretty sure I can still fit in the gap between it and the wall and still be able to get dressed."

"Alright, if ya say so." Holly said, putting her clothes down and starting to change.

"Hey, Holly?" Gemma said from behind the wardrobe, getting changed too. Holly could hear a few bangs, followed by 'ow's, as she did so.

"Yep?"

"What were you looking for, out of the window?"

Holly's heart skipped a beat, she hadn't realised they had seen her looking out, or maybe it was just Gemma that saw. But either way, she panicked a little, not ready to tell her why she stared out of the window, what she was looking for. She only just met Gemma, and nice as she seemed, she hadn't even told her two childhood friends yet. She had left before she had time to anyway; neither of them knew what was flying through her mind. Like Gemma and Nathen, Holly had secrets of her own.

"Nothing really, I just wanted some fresh air is all. It's not like I could even see anything if I wanted to anyway, the tree cover is too thick!" Holly said, cheerful voice maybe just a little to exaggerated. If Gemma noticed, she didn't comment.

"Okay, guess that makes sense." She said. Holly sighed in relief, and pulled on her own wrist bands, looking at them for a moment with a smile. But she then sighed, they were a gift off someone special, but… "Come on, I'm ready, so if you are we can go and eat all the bacon before Mr. Canine Pokémon can eat it all!"

"You should've let him change in here and locked him in." Holly suggested as she laughed, walking out of the room with Gemma.

"Damn, why didn't I think of that?" Gemma cursed, clicking her fingers and stamping one foot. Holly laughed again, "Come on then! Race you!"

"You know I'm faster."

"So?" Gemma said as she ran down the stairs two at a time. Holly giggled and simply jumped down the stairs all in one leap, before Gemma was even half way down. Gemma gave her a wide eyed look and tripped, landing on the face in classic anime fashion. Holly giggled.

"Blaziken can jump over thirty story buildings, remember? I have plenty of that power in me to jump down a measly staircase." Truth be told she had rarely used that ability, but god it was fun, "You okay down there?"

All she got was a mumble, muffled by the floor. She sweatdropped.

"Need a little help?" Another amused voice said with a chuckle, walking down the stairs behind them. He knelt down and helped Gemma pull herself out of the floor, then held a hand for her to grab to get up. Gemma smiled up at Nathen, red from embarrassment, and grabbed the hand, letting him help her up.

"Heh, thanks…" She said, looking at his chest (its right on her eye level) to avoid looking at his eyes, "I'm too clumsy for my own good."

"That's true, but it's you." Nathen smiled, ruffling her hair, making her squirm. Gemma smiled up again, "Come on, if you were that eager to eat we better go do so, 'ey?"

"Hehe, yeah." Gemma said, still a bit red. Nathen laughed, and walked into the dining area of the kitchen, Gemma following quickly, and Holly going after them with a small chuckle. Yep, they were definitely a close pair of friends.

"There you all are, eat up," Carol said with a smile, placing plates of breakfast on the table.

"Alright! Man I have missed your cooking!" Gemma cheered as she sat down. Markus ruffled her hair as he walked past, and her mother giggled. Nathen took his seat next to her.

"What's wrong with my Cooking?" Nathen said.

"Nothing, but there's just something about a Mom's cooking," Gemma said with a shrug, giggling again. Nathen smiled.

"She's right there, Mom's cooking is always the best," Holly said, sitting down opposite the two. She took her cutlery into her hands and started to eat, "Thanks for the meal, ma'm, sir."

"It's just Carol and Markus to any friend of Gemma," Carol smiled. Holly smiled, shrugging mentally as she only just met Gemma, but she guessed they were already friends.

"This is great as ever mom!" Gemma said with her mouth full, coughing a bit afterwards. Nathen patted her back to help her not choke, making her a bit red. "Heh, oops." Nathen just chuckled, and started to eat too. Gemma continued to practically shove the food into her mouth, making her parents laugh and try not to watch, though it wasn't easy. The sight was too funny.

Soon they'd finished, and they grabbed all of their stuff, ready to leave for the road. Gemma looked up at her parents, before jumping on them and holding them tight.

"I'll call as many times as I can! Promise!" She said, burying her face in their shoulders, "I'll miss you!"

"W-We'll miss you two dear, please do keep in contact… and don't get into trouble…" Carol said, keeping her close.

Gemma knew she would be lying if she promised not to get into trouble, she knew that was going to be near unavoidable, trouble was going to follow the three around. She would have to promise, though, or they might not let her continue on her journey so soon after they had seen her again.

"I-I promise, I will keep in contact… and I'll stay out of trouble…" She crossed her fingers over their shoulders as she said the final bit, even if she felt bad doing so. Nathen caught this and gave her a sympathetic look, making Gemma smile at him.

"Good luck, Gemma…" Markus said, ruffling his daughter's hair. Gemma kissed his forehead and smiled, smoothing down his ever annoying little bit of hair that always stuck up.

"Thank you… Love you mom, love you dad…" She hugged them one more time, then let go and walked to her friends, taking Nathen's hand almost immediately. Nathen smiled a little.

"You take good care of my girl, boy," Markus said to Nathen, arms folded.

"I will. We'll all be looking after each other, so there's nothing to worry about," Nathen said politely, looking to the two girls and getting a nod and a grin off each. Markus chuckled.

"I think I can trust you. Well, off you all go on the road then! Good luck to each of ya," Markus said, waving a hand. Carol giggled.

"Bye!" Gemma said, grabbing Holly's wrist, dropping Nathen's hand, and running off as fast as she could. Holly laughed, and knowing she could run even faster she dragged Gemma instead.

"Hey! You two!" Nathen said, running off at just above average human speed, so as not to end up showing off his extreme speed, trying to catch up with them.

Holly slowed down a bit to a speed Gemma could keep up with, and let her arm go, though neither actually stopped moving.

"HEY! Wait up you two, come on!" Nathen said, trying to catch up.

"Should we wait?" Gemma said with a giggle.

"Nah," Holly said, also giggling, "Let's keep going." Gemma laughed.

"Girls!"

"Come on, you can catch up easier than that!" Gemma called back. Nathen shook his head with a laugh, and sped up a bit, which in turn made Holly speed up, which also in turn left the slowest of the trio, Gemma, stuck in the middle straining to try and keep up with Holly, "Hey! Holly!"

"Come on! Man, you really are slow aren't you?"

"I can't help it!" Gemma pouted.

"Oh don't worry, you'll reach her soon enough!" Nathen called, scooping her up as he ran past her. Gemma shrieked for a moment.

"NATHEN!"

Holly and the elder boy both burst out laughing as Nathen finally caught up to her, Gemma slung over the lone boy's shoulder. She hit his back.

"Lemme down! Lemme down! God you guys are going to rub the fact you're fast in, aren't you?"

"Maybe," Nathen said. Gemma pouted and hit his back again, "Hey!"

"Lemme down!"

"Nope, we'll lose you if he does!" Holly joked.

"That better not be a jab at my height as well as my speed…" Gemma said with a glare. Holly waved her hands in front of her face defensively.

"O-Of course not!" Gemma's glare didn't falter, making Holly sweatdrop. She took one side step away so she wasn't killed by the short eleven year old, "Where's the next town?" She asked to change the subject.

"Berrybud City! Holds the first gym, and a big bug catching contest! You can guess the gym type," Gemma said, hitting Nathen's back again.

"Ow! Stop!"

"It doesn't hurt and you know it."

"Meh."

"Shuddup."

"Don't want to."

"Both of you stop it!" Holly said with a laugh. Gemma pouted and Nathen chuckled. Holly giggled again, "How long do you think it'll take?"

Gemma shrugged, whilst Nathen chuckled prodded her arm, making Gemma make a little 'o' shape with her mouth, tapping her Pokédex to turn it on, then the PokéOrg, turning on the map.

"So?"

"According to this… an average day's walk," She said, "We might get there before nightfall I thinks."

"If you don't slow us down." Holly giggled playfully.

"Hey! That's it, lemme down Nate! I'm so getting her!" Gemma said with a pout, struggling against Nathen's grasp. Nathen chuckled, letting her down to her feet but grabbing her wrist instead. Gemma tried to pull against it to get at Holly, quite a comical sight considering how strong Nathen was and how he could easily hold her back, until his hand slipped down to lock his fingers with hers, which soon made her stop and just blush. Holly giggled again, before subtly giving her pendant a squeeze as it seemed to shake slightly.

"Let's try not to kill each other on the second day of knowing everyone, okay?" Nathen said, moving his hand away again now she was relatively calm. Her blush barely faded at all.

"O-Okay…" Gemma said, trying to keep her tone normal. Nathen gave a tiny chuckle to himself.

"Come on, let's get walking then, as she said we have to keep walking or it'll take longer than an average day," He said.

"Right!" Holly said, nodding, "Hopefully nothing will disrupt us along the way!"

"…You do realise you likely jinxed that, don't you?" Gemma said, sweatdropping. Holly mouthed an 'oops' and covered her mouth before giggling.

They continued to walk ahead, chattering as they went, occasionally having what appeared to be friendly bickering matches. Nathen watched with a sweatdrop until butting in with something that got him smacked around the back of the head most of the time, and Holly occasionally randomly flailed around to grab her necklace as it shook. She got weird faces from the other two when she did, but just scratched the back of her head and laughed nervously. Oh yes, this would be one interesting journey for the three.

~X~X~X~

**_Half an hour previous…_**

"Wonder where we should start off our little journey, 'ey Electra?" Annette said as she got dressed, currently fastening up her pure coloured jacket. The little electric squirrel Pokémon shrugged its little front paws and hopped up to her shoulder, then scurrying up to her head. The vacationing Pokémon Ranger giggled.

"Well, we might as well just go up to the next town, I guess. Heh, wonder how Bea's doing? I heard she became the Gym Leader now, I remember seeing her a few times when mom and dad took me up there when they did errands or had to work up at the city when I was too young to be left alone," Anne giggled to herself, putting her bag on. Electra ducked as she put the strap over her head, squeaking a bit, "Oops, sorry Electra."

"Pachi!"

"Come on, let's get moving," The young woman said, walking out of the room and to the main lobby, thanking the owner of the inn before walking outside and taking a big breath with a smile, "Nature is still as great as ever here, it's nice to be in a town, not a huge city, then again there aren't many big proper city cities here."

She walked through the small town, smiling the whole time, remembering her old home. She looked at some of the familiar buildings, before walking out onto _Route 1_ of the region, ready to head to the same city our main three heroes would be heading for shortly after her. Electra sat happily atop her head, occasionally fiddling with her bangs, long tail swaying happily. Anne giggled the whole time she did so.

As she continued to walk, she suddenly became aware that one of the rocks at the side of the road was… floating? It had a blue outline, much like a psychic attack, around it.

"Must be a playful psychic type or something… though I'm sure there aren't many psychic types on this route…" Anne muttered to herself, letting her natural curiosity she had gained during being a ranger (well how else could she make sure nothing bad was happening?), she started to head to the trees beside the rock.

"Ah damn!" A human girl's voice exclaimed as she dropped the rock, "I'm normally better than that… Must be because it's so early in the morning…"

"Who's there?-!" Anne exclaimed. She heard someone jump. That person, whoever it was, they used _psychic?_ She immediately put together the pieces, realising this girl must be something to do with the team that few knew to be evil that she had hoped to investigate and decide if it needed Ranger Union attention.

Sudden silence as soon as Annette spoke.

"I said who's there?-!" Electra hoped to the ground beside her and sparked a bit as a warning.

"Okay, okay, I'm coming out just don't zap me, please!" The female voice said, before they came walking out of the trees, revealing a familiar girl, "What's the problem?" She said politely.

"You… you're from that existence group aren't you?-!"

"N-No! I-I don't even know what you're talking about!"

"You just used psychic don't pull that rubbish on me!" Maylu jumped a bit, she should've realised the elder girl must have seen her, "Look, kid, tell me!"

"Wh-Why're you so interested anyway? I don't even know what you're talking about…"

"I'm a Pokémon Ranger!"

Ah. She knew she would be in big trouble if she led a Pokémon Ranger into the business of the two teams she was under the control of; it would probably mean a _very_ bad punishment she would rather not face, so she knew she had to get out of there right away. But how? She was practically cornered, and she was still a young agent, she didn't know how experienced this ranger was and she could easily be ten times more agile than her.

…Wait.

She mentally facepalmed when she remembered she could just teleport out of there, the morning was not agreeing with her. Maylu closed her eyes, and with a deep breath, she disappeared in a quick flash.

"…Shoulda known she could do that…" Annette said, sighing. Electra scurried back to her head, "She had to be part of that team, from what I know about them all the people in it have strange gifts… she has to have some link to it… right? Man… this journey just got started and already I'm confused…"

"Pachi! Ri su-su!" Electra said, hanging her head over the top of her human partner's and smiling at her. As if trying to say it'll work out. The Ranger smiled and scratched behind her Pokémon's ear.

"Thanks Electra, you're the best, come on, we should get moving."

"Pachi!"

Annette giggled once more, and with a last glance to where her first clue to the mysterious force that was Team Existence, she ran off, not knowing she had just cleared the path for our heroes who were soon to follow the path she walked down.

~X~X~X~

**_Back with our main trio…_**

"Rylee stop trying to get out of your ball! Geez! Stop!"

Holly and Nathen sweatdropped as they watched Gemma try to keep the Poké Ball holding her Phoenix Pokémon closed, holding the top and bottom together as the playful creature tried to escape.

"Does this happen often?" Holly asked Nathen as they watched with greatly amused expressions.

"Once a week or so," Nathen said with a chuckle, "I'll give her some help in a minute."

"Why doesn't she let her out?"

"Rylee hasn't really changed from her youngest form, she's still the most mischievous Pokémon either of us own, and it's not always the best to have her trying to carry you half way across a region when you're trying to get somewhere," Nathen said, shaking his head with a laugh. Holly giggled.

"I see your point. Man, you two sure are unique aren't you?"

"You could put it that way," Nathen said, "or you could describe us, _mostly_ Gemma, as insane. She rubs off on me every now and again."

"Nathen can I have a hand please?-!" Gemma said, trying to force the ball closed still, "Rylee you troublemaker stay in the ball!"

"Give it here," Nathen sighed lightly, hiding an amused tone, going to her and putting his hands over hers so that Rylee couldn't get out during the hand over. Gemma hid her blush for the millionth time that day, and slipped her hands from under his so he could hold it shut, before he sent a small wave of aura to calm the Pokémon inside through it, "There we go."

"Heh, thanks… again," Gemma said, taking the ball back and clipping it to her belt, "She's so troublesome."

"Kind of like her trainer."

"Y-… hey! Which one of you was that?-!" Gemma said, looking around with a playful glare. Both just laughed or smiled and didn't say. Gemma pouted and crossed her arms, "You guys… I've just met one of you and already you're both teasing me like we've known each other for years!"

"It's too easy to, that's why, besides," Holly said with a light giggle, "you do kind of bring it on yourself."

"Ah shuddup!"

"How far from the town are we?" Holly asked, trying not to keep giggling. Gemma looked back to her PokéOrg to check, even though they hadn't been walking long.

"We still have a long while to go, since we've only been walking a couple of hours… still think we can get there before nightfall though," Gemma said, turning the device off again.

"Okay, I can't wait to see the city, I really want to know what my home region is like," Holly said, adjusting her bag and brushing some hair behind her ear, touching her pendant absentmindedly.

"I went there a couple of times, my parents only went there to work and get food and stuff, they usually took a small car though since it was quicker, or rode on a Pokémon's back… or a short-… ah man there was a shorter road there that I forgot about!" She suddenly realised.

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Nathen said. Gemma pouted again.

"Oi! I can't help it! I haven't thought about it for years!" She said, hitting him over the back of the head, "You owe me a piggyback now mister!"

"Fine fine, get on my back," Nathen said, crouching. Gemma clambered on and giggled.

"Doesn't surprise me either from what I've seen of your so far, Gemma," Holly giggled, "Well, what's done is done, we've started the long way now so we'll have to keep going this way, besides, it's gives us time to get to know each other since we've just met."

"Most of us 'getting to know each other' has been you guys teasing me," Gemma said. Nathen chuckled.

"Come on, we can talk properly on the way now, you're not getting her for anything whilst you're on my back, that's for sure," Nathen said, tickling under her knees, making her squirm.

"Nate!"

"Heh, I'm gonna beat you now!" Holly said, running off. Nathen took a minute to notice, before laughing and running after her.

"That's no fair! Cheater!" Gemma called from Nathen's back. She had to hold on tight even at this speed. Nathen kept running, until he caught up with Holly and the little race pursued, "Eek! Guys!"

Looks like they'll be getting there quicker than planned.

~X~X~X~

**Me: I'll be going on a holiday from Saturday for a week, for any regular readers, so no updates during that week. I'll put a note on SR on Friday too, since I won't get a chapter out for that then. Anyway, onto this story, its mostly a character development chapter, so… a filler, there might not be another chapter for a while.**

**R&R!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Me: About time I updated this… haven't worked on it as much as I should've due to coursework etc, Scarlet's road got most of my FF attention. But DtF got its own slight showcasing in that recently too, so… *shrug* Thought it was time I put some work in on another chapter of this.**

**Chapter 4 **

Berrybud City, the first Monoko city, and out of the five classified cities of the small region – the third largest. A city with no buildings higher than three floors, and all with flat roofs full of flowers and other plants, mini gardens filled with bugs of all kinds, from many a region. The berries grown here, and fertilised by the many butterfly and bee Pokémon that roam the town, are known all across Monoko and Pokoh for their taste, as well as the beautiful flowers that are in constant competition with those in their sister city, Shrubhill.

Like their sister city, the grounds of Berrybud are host to beautiful gardens, also in deep competition with Shrubhill's, the secrets of which lie with the native bug Pokémon that roam them as freely as they do the city. Friendly locals wander around town selling the city's famous goods and showing visitors around, other Pokémon owned by the natives running with the young children, or helping with chores. Many tend the gardens with grass and bug types, some focusing around the quaint little gym, which appeared to have a garden behind it, with a tall building with a constant buzzing sound ringing from it there too.

In that garden behind the little gym, a young woman suddenly bursts out of the building filled with the buzzing sound and slams the door quickly behind her, leaning against the door and panting. You couldn't see much of the woman's appearance, as she was dressed in a thick bee-keepers outfit, hat and all, but after a long moment of waiting, she finally sighed in relief and leant away from the door, pulling off her hat and shaking out her hair.

Long red ringlets fell to her mid back as she did so, and she had to brush some out of her yellow-green eyes as they fell the wrong way. She peered back over her shoulder to check the door was still sealed, then turned back and undid the thick white jacket of her bee keeper gear, hanging it up on the side of the building and then grabbing another jacket back, white too, but only chest length. The back of this jacket seemed to be missing, it only being made up of the collar, arms, and a small part of the front section. The shirt she had underneath was a yellow v-neck and covered in a bee pattern, and came down to around about her knees now it wasn't held up in the jacket. She kept on her bee keeping trousers and heavy dark green boots, then grabbed three bobbles – with Combee decorations on – and put her hair into them, two ponytails on the sides of her head and one on the back.

"Whew… I really need to stop forgetting about them…" She mumbled to herself, scratching her head. A laugh was heard, and the woman turned to see Annette standing by the side of the gym, having come in through the side gate.

"Forgetful as ever, 'ey Bea?" Anne said, smiling and walking over toward her, Electra waving from her head.

"…Anne? Oh m' god girl it's been ages!" The woman, Bea, grinned as she ran to meet her old friend in the middle of her walk, holding up a hand for a high five. Annette laughed and slapped her hand against the young adult's hand, smiling more.

"It sure has been. Life's busy being a trainer and then a ranger, haven't had chance to pass through my home region much. How've you been?" The vacationing Pokémon ranger asked her, "I heard you became gym leader."

"I sure did! It's fun, I get to battle with all sorts of trainers every day with my amazing bug types, its great!" Bea beamed. Anne smiled, then giggled as Electra hopped to her head, "Who's this?"

"My partner Pokémon, Electra."

"Hi!"

"Pachi!"

"So, you come here just for a social call or here for a battle?" Bea asked, looking back to Anne.

"A battle, if I'm honest. I'm using my vacation time for a journey around my home region, so why not do the league again?" She said with a shrug, Electra hopping back over to her, "You taking battles today?"

"'Fraid not, there's a bug catching contest that I'm running as well as entering on today, so I won't take challengers 'til tomorrow."

"Guess I can wait 'til tomorrow then, thanks, I'll come back then," Annette said, before turning to go.

"Hey, I can put you up at m' place whilst you're here if ya like, its less crowded than the Pokémon centre or the inns," Bea suggested, brushing hair out of her face again as a stray strand was blown by the wind. Anne turned back, and then nodded.

"Sure, okay, I'll take you up on that. Just gotta go stock up though, okay?"

"Yeah, alright, see ya later!" Bea said. Annette ran off to do her stuff, and Bea sighed, looking back to the giant hive, "Well then, now that's done… to the gardening!"

~X~X~X~

"Whoa, this place is really pretty, and it smells nice too!" Gemma said as she, Nathen and Holly all arrived at the first Monoko city, "So many flowers!"

"Can you please get down? Even I can only carry you so long," Nathen said, looking up at her. Gemma pouted at him before nodding and clambering off his back with a 'fine, fine', landing on the ground with a soft thud, "I have to agree though, it's a beautiful city."

"It sure is! Wow… So many gardens. And look at all those bug types! Some of those butterfly Pokémon are so pretty!" Holly said, watching as many a kind of bug flew past them, landing on all sorts of the plants, "I heard that this place has wonderful berries too!"

"No wonder with so many Pokémon here to help fertilise them naturally," Nathen said, looking around too, "Monoko's a stunning little region."

"The contest is in the next town, right? So we've just got the gym here?" Gemma asked as she wandered off a bit, Nathen and Holly soon following her, "And a bit of exploring the town of course."

"Yeah, that's right. The Gym is Bug, from what I heard. Kinda guessed by the amount of bug types in the city too," The eldest of the group said, ducking a bit as a stubborn bug type refused to fly over or around him. He laughed a little as that Pokémon promptly flew into another and they started having a tiny scrap, before another one came and pushed them apart.

The two that had flown into each other were both the same Pokémon. A basic shape a lot like Beedrill, but with four main body parts, two smaller chest pieces and a larger base, with a skull shaped head. Its chest pieces are dark purple, its base black as well as its head, and its eyes are red, and a very sharp shape. Around its base are sharp purple stripes, around its chest sections the same stripes in black. It had a stinger, red or black, on its base. Its arms are thin and have sharp stingers on the end of them too. It has two wings that are sharp in shape.

The one that had pushed them apart had a basic moth like form with two body sections, as well as a head. It has four short green arms, sticking off its two body sections, two on the white base section and two on the black chest section, each with small yellow claws on the end. Its head is simple and round, green in colour with black antennae, and large but lazy yellow eyes. It has six rather large, rounded wings, white in the centre and black around the edges, with yellow circles in the centre of them.

"Wonder what Pokémon they are…" Nathen said, going for his Pokédex, though Gem had already beaten him to it, pointing it at the two Pokémon first.

**"Spitreeze, the Spiteful Bee Pokémon, and the evolved form of Chrystility. Spitreeze are even more violent than Beedrill, and are agitated for very different reasons, many of them not known,"** The voice of the Pokédex said, all round views appearing on the screens of the Poké Dex. The images then changed to that of the other Pokémon, and it recited the next entry: **"Neutrift, the Neutral Moth Pokémon and the evolved form of Simpligroth. Neutrift are more willing to fight than previous evolutions, especially in the ownership of a trainer, but still prefer to fly around eating all the time."**

"Wonder what their previous evolutions look like…" Gem said as she looked the information over, then turning her Dex off, looking back up at the Pokémon.

"We'll probably find out in a town this filled with bugs, watch you don't step on any," Nathen said, treading over a little bug Pokémon right after he said that, chuckling, "Well, let's find somewhere to stay then. Inn or Centre?"

"From what I remember, most Centres have only a few rooms here so they're often booked… Hopefully there should be a cheap inn around though, Monoko runs on them with its trainers and stuff," Gem said, "So we can check out one of them."

"Alright then, might as well give that a shot. Looks like we might need the gym and contest prize money a lot, hm? If we're using inns on top of supplies," Nathen said, shoving his hands in his pockets, "Let's go find one then."

"We can all chip in, I've got some money for the journey off my family anyway, on top of what I earned around Unova," Holly said.

"We haven't got all that much… we haven't been able to get money off family like that, even with seeing mom and dad the other day I wasn't just going to ask for money, and they didn't give me much," Gemma said, shrugging and turning around, walking backwards, facing them, "But come on, we have enough for a night or two! Let's g-… Waaaah!" Gem let out the small shriek as she tripped over backwards, foot knocking a bug who wasn't impressed, grumbling its name and scurrying off after giving her a glare. It took a moment, but Nathen and Holly began to laugh lightly at this, before Nathen helped Gemma back up to her feet and ruffled her hair, making her blush and squirm.

"Let's go, clumsy," The teen chuckled. Gemma giggled nervously, scratching the back of her head, before nodding, then starting to head toward one of the inns around the city.

After roughly ten minutes, the trio found a quaint little in with a beautiful garden on the roof, which had cheap trainer rates for multi-bed rooms, and they booked into a bunk and single room for a couple of nights and then went up to it to ditch any unnecessary baggage.

"I call top bunk!" Gemma said as she walked in, throwing her bag up to the bunk and then clambering up the ladder, hopping onto the bunk.

"I'll call single," Holly said, throwing her bag to the single bed, placed near the window. She sat on the edge of the bed, taking things she didn't necessarily need out of her bag.

"Guess that leaves me with bottom bunk," Nathen chuckled, going to the lower bunk and putting his bag down too, then pushing up the sleeves of his jacket and shirt. Gemma giggled and hit the mattress off the top bunk, the bang passing through to Nathen, who laughed, "Better not do that in the middle of the night or you'll have me on the offensive from shock."

"Heh, I'll try not to then," Gemma beamed, poking her head down over the side of the bed, sticking her tongue out at him. Nathen chuckled. Gemma then popped her head back up and pulled out a few things that she left on her bed for that night, and a few things she wouldn't need during the day walking around. She pulled out a little toy at one point, nearly shoving it straight back in the bag, but ending up pulling it into her arms for a long moment, holding it tight to her chest. Holly saw this, and curious she walked over and clambered up a couple of the steps, peering at her and trying to see what she was holding.

"Whatcha got there?" She asked, prying off her hands and taking hold of the small toy. Gemma quickly snatched it back, holding it tighter to her chest and burying her face against it, "Geez, just asking."

"P-Please don't touch it…" Gemma said, tightening her grip, biting her lip. Nathen stood from the bed and looked up at them.

"What's up now?" He questioned, standing on the edge of the bottom bunk to look up. Gemma slowly loosened her grip and showed a small Embolf toy, before gripping it tighter again, "Ah. Holly, don't touch that, I got her that some months back for her birthday, she's slightly protective over it," The teen informed the red haired girl, reaching forward a bit and gently stroking the top of the toy's head, which made Gemma smile a bit. She then kissed the toy and then placed it by the pillow, just underneath the covers of the bunk, a light blush on her cheeks as she adjusted it as if to make it comfortable, embarrassed at the childish behaviour.

"I see. Well, I won't pry then, sorry Gemma," Holly said, hopping down from the ladder and giving her a smile. Gemma smiled a bit back, then hopping off from the top bunk, managing a precise landing on Nathen's back as he turned to get off the edge of the bed. He let out a small grunt, before sweatdropping and supporting her legs.

"You'll lose your ability to walk if you keep hitching rides off me, tiny," He said, looking back at her.

"So? Then I can make you carry me more often!" The tiny girl said with a huge grin. Nathen laughed lightly, tickling her under her knees, making her squirm and laugh.

"Come on you two, let's go!" Holly said, giggling, "You two are so easily distracted."

"Only by this little monster," Nathen pointed out, tickling Gemma again, getting a few kicks as her legs flailed out a bit, "Ow."

"It doesn't hurt you and you know it," Gemma said, poking his head.

"Off we go then, let's find where the gym is," Nathen said, chuckling under his breath at her, shifting her up his back a bit and then heading for the door, "You better lock the door behind us Holly, I've got my hands a bit full."

"Alright, will do," Holly said, grabbing the key from one of their beds as Nathen walked out, following after him and locking the door, shoving the key into her bag, "Wonder what the gym's like."

"Guess we'll just have to see to find out," Nathen said.

~X~X~X~

Now closer to the gym we can get a better view of it. It was a simple white building, with the same garden adorned roof as the vast majority of the other buildings. The wood panelling on the outside of the building seemed to be an interlocking pattern of Hexagons, not just straight panels, and every few or so one was painted yellow or orange. More bee Pokémon seemed to focus around this house than other bugs, buzzing and calls of names like 'Combee!' were constantly heard.

However, today there was a large sign put up across the door, reading 'No Battles Accepted today due to Bug Catching Contest!'. Nathen stood scratching his head looking at it, just about deciphering the very messily scrawled onto the paper with a sharpie. Holly was sweatdropping, hands on her hips, whilst Gemma had lost interest in the sign itself fast, and instead turned her attention to the posters about the weekly Bug Catching Contests on the wall of the gym. They were big and bold and had 'バグのキャッチコンテスト' written at the bottom, with the English 'Bug Catching Contest' written beneath it. Above the writing were many images of bug types, some of which Gemma recognised and some of which she didn't.

"Looks like she's headed to this," The sandy haired girl said, pointing at the most visible of the layers of posters, "Its kinda stupid of her though, she should be focusing on challengers, right?"

"Gym leaders can have lives too, Gem," Nathen chuckled, ruffling her hair and looking at the poster.

"Wonder where they hold this thing, the city or the woods around it," Holly said as she walked to look at the posters too, "They could easily do it in the city, it's so full of them."

"True," Nathen said, "Well, now what do we do? There's nothing much else in this town, other than the gardens."

"We could always check out the Bug Contest," Holly suggested, "We could probably get a new Pokémon out of it, look, it says: 'All Captured Pokémon are kept by competitors'. Plus we could always go out for some of the famous berry dishes after, it'll be getting close to dark by the time it's over."

"That sounds good!" Gemma said, "Especially the bit about food!"

"Alright than, we may as well do that. Where does it actually say it's being held?" Nathen asked, looking closer at the poster and managing to find the location, "It's at the… north east of the city, by an entrance to the forest. Let's head up toward it."

"Take it I can't steal another ride this time?" Gemma asked, pouting. Nathen sweatdropped, ruffling her hair again, "Heeey! Quit it!"

"Geez you two get distracted easily!" Holly grinned as she ran off, "Betcha can't beat me this time!"

"Hey, that's cheating!" Gemma called, starting to run after her, even though she knew she was never going to keep up with the two of them. She'd learned that earlier.

"You snooze you lose!"

"Gemma'll lose this anyway!" Nathen chuckled as he ran off too, running after Holly and passing Gemma easily. Gemma quickly tried to speed up, but only just managed to catch up with them a couple of times, nipping just on their heels, only for them to speed off ahead again.

"Oi! Stop that! Guys!" She called, running faster. The other two just laughed for a while, before Nathen slowed enough for her to grab onto his hand tightly and just about manage to keep up as she was being dragged along and didn't want her arm dislocated. Nathen held her hand tightly, not wanting her to fall behind.

Holly glanced back and giggled at them, before calling: "Oh I am so easily beating you now!" and then promptly speeding even more.

~X~X~X~

Around this entrance to the forest, canopies were set up where trainers or normal residents entering the bug catching contest could register for it. Poké balls were being handed out to those who didn't have any, and others were waiting by the entrance to be allowed in. At the very front of that group was the woman we know as the gym leader, Bea, grinning widely and waiting for the contest to start, hiding how impatient she was. There were people of all ages around her, some with Pokémon already with them, others without, all talking amongst themselves.

A big digital clock was set up at a time of one hour, ready to count down during the contest, giving the time limit for the capturing of the Pokémon during the contest. As soon as the green numbers would hit 00:00, a bell would go off to signal the end and all contestants would be required to return to the canopied area. The rules were being explained to people as they passed through the desks.

Holly was waiting by the entrance to the canopied area, arms folded, as Nathen reached her dragging Gemma. Nathen and Holly both easily stood straight, barely fazed by the run, whilst Gemma was bent over with her hands on her knees, panting for air with her legs aching.

"You alright Gemma…?" Nathen said, raising an eyebrow and crouching, looking at her. Gemma crouched down, then fell onto her butt, still panting for air, "Take that as a no?"

"I… can… barely… bloody… breathe!" Gemma gasped out, holding her chest. Nathen sweatdropped and just helped her stay sitting whilst she caught her breath, "That… was so… you two's fault… I… can't run that fast…"

"I'll just shove you on my shoulder next time then," Nathen chuckled, standing and giving her a hand to help her up. She grabbed it and pulled up to her feet, breathing beginning to turn back to normal.

"Try it and I'll scorch you…" Gemma said, glaring, "I don't like being slung over your shoulder, carrying I like, but shoulder is so uncomfortable!"

"Alright, alright, I won't. Don't kill me!"

"Will you three be entering?" One of the people behind the desks asked, standing and peering over at them. The trio looked over.

"Yeah, we want to enter," Holly said, walking over, the other two following, standing in front of the woman as she sat down again.

"I take it you have Poké Balls of your own?" She asked them, taking out a few small forms, handing them to them. It was filled with just basic questions, which they filled out quickly and handed back.

"Yeah, we do," Nathen said.

"Good. Alright, I just need to explain the basic rules. You may catch up to a maximum of three Pokémon, though you can release any of them at any time to replace them with another. Only one of the Pokémon, of your choice, can be kept at the end of the competition. You may not use Pokémon to capture the Pokémon. When you hear the bell, all must return back to the canopied area here as it means that the competition has ended," The woman explained, "There's a few minutes until the contest begins, so you can wait where everyone else is."

"Alright, thank you," Nathen thanked, Holly and Gemma walking straight over to the gathering with him not far behind. They all stood rather near the entrance after managing to get through the crowd, "This should be fun."

"Probably," Gemma nodded, grinning, "Hope I don't trip over anymore bugs though."

"Heh, don't walk backwards then," Holly said with a grin, making Gemma stick her tongue out at her, "Child."

"Oh gee, real insulting that," Gemma said with heavy sarcasm, giving her a look with an eyebrow raised. Holly giggled and stuck her tongue out back, making Gemma giggle.

"**The Bug Catching Contest will begin in two minutes!**" A voice announced out of some speakers.

"Oh finally!" A voice came from just by the three, making all glance at the person who spoke. It was a young woman familiar to us, a woman with red hair and yellow-green eyes, now looking extremely bored and impatient, "I really need to stop getting here so soon…"

"Sounds like someone was eager," Gemma commented to her two friends. Nathen nodded.

"Yeah, sounds so…" He agreed, looking at the woman. She was pouting, slumped to one side a bit, with her arms folded across her chest. Her foot tapped impatiently, and she was chewing her lip, "And is still very eager…"

"**Alright everyone, you may now enter the forest!**"

"Finally!" The young woman said before entering the forest straight always, before most people had registered the announcement. Holly, Nathen and Gemma blinked for a moment, before looking at each other and giving a shrug, before entering the forest as the rest of the contestants began to file in.

~X~X~X~

"And the second we're in here, all the bugs are hiding," Gemma said, looking around, spotting only a few bug types around the trees and bushes around them.

"The best bugs are probably hardest to find," Nathen said, looking around too, "It might be better to use a lot of the time to search out a good Pokémon, than just catching a few small ones," He suggested, holding one of his Poké Balls.

"It'd be hard to catch good ones though, wouldn't it? We can't fight Pokémon to make them weaker," Holly said, tilting her head, holding one of her own empty Poké Balls.

Nathen casually lit up a flame in the palm of his empty hand, "The rules didn't say anything about humans with Pokémon DNA fighting the Pokémon before capture," He said with a slight smirk. Gemma raised an eyebrow, before giving a light giggle.

"I like how you think there, Pierce," She giggled, scooping the flame out of his palm as if it were simply a ball, flaring it up more with her own fire control, then simply extinguishing it by closing her hand, "Might as well get some use out of this."

"I'm not usually one for cheating, but I think I'll join in on this one for the laughs it'll surely bring," Holly giggled, "Though if I see a cute small bug I'll want it anyway."

"It's not _technically _cheating," Nathen pointed out with a light smirk, chuckling. Holly giggled again.

"Well, let's go search out some bugs then!" Gemma grinned; walking ahead… and then promptly falling over; face first, as she tripped over yet another bug. A longer moment of silence occurred, before Holly and Nathen burst into laughs again. Gemma sat up, blew some hair out of her face and glared at them, "You two. Run. Before I scorch you."

"Oh boy, run!"

~X~X~X~

**_(Budbloom Town)_**

"So where's the next town up from here?" A boy of around fifteen years of age asked a girl of no more than a year younger. The wind that ran through Budbloom town brought both the duo's hair to life, dancing around in the breeze; the girl's light blue pair of braids blowing out behind her, the male's dark and messy blonde hair blowing every which way, settling in a new arrangement every time.

Two white wings, which to an unknowing eye looked like just part of her blue and white bag, reflexively stretched out as the girl, stretched her arms and then grabbed a device, a PokéNav, from her pocket, focusing her Sapphire eyes on the map, "…Berrybud City, the first gym city. It should take us just under a day to walk there, so we might have to camp out considering it'll be getting dark soon," The girl then put the device away and casually tightened the green sweater tied around her waist, hanging down over the back of her black jeans, and creasing her blue t-shirt. She shifted stance a bit, and the small blue bell on a white ribbon around her neck shook and let out a tinkling sound. She gave a tiny flinch, but then smiled a bit as a Grovyle by her side patted her hand.

The boy turned his brown eyes to her, smiling lightly, "Alright then, we can walk for a bit then set up camp as soon as it's properly dark, I'll take my turn to cook tonight too," He pulled his red shirt down a bit beneath the tied blue sweater around his waist, pulling his jeans up a bit, adjusting his black bag.

"Alright Sam," The girl said, giving a small smile back, "…I wish we didn't have to travel around this region."

"If we want to stop them, we must, Swan," Sam said, putting a hand on her shoulder, "The only other place they operate in is Pokoh, and it would hardly make a dent if we managed anything there," The girl bit her lip, wings subconsciously flexing again, one moving to rest its feathers over Sam's hand.

"I… I guess you're right…" She said softly, holding one arm with the other and sighing. Sam rubbed her shoulder.

"Trust me, okay? Come on, flash us a smile," He urged, smiling at her gently, tilting her head to look at him. The girl let a smile break on her face for a moment before moving her head away, making the boy's smile grow more, "There we go."

"Gro!" The Grovyle said, smiling a bit then gesturing to the exit of the town, where they were going to head.

"Right, let's get going," Sam said with a nod.

These two are Samuel Black, and Seira Light. Two friends, born of totally different regions and under different circumstances, who had been united by the very same thing that had brought out main three heroes together: Team Existence. The team that projected such a positive image to the majority of Monoko's people of being protectors. The two had both lost dear Pokémon, and both had been implanted with those very Pokémon. Both had become adept at hiding their condition, though Seira Light finds it very hard to control those majestic wings of hers.

Both are here for revenge, they want to bring down Team Existence, much like our three heroes subconsciously plan to do, whilst also avoiding being caught and tested on more. Only time can tell how the duo will integrate themselves into our tale, but I can only assume it will be in such a way they will be deeply involved with our heroes' own struggles with Existence.

~X~X~X~

**_(Forest: Bug Catching Contest – 00:26:40 remaining)_**

After being chased by Gemma and wasting roughly ten minutes, the trio had begun to search for Pokémon to capture for the contest, as the sky got ever darker above them. All three had lit up the flames on their wrists to try and make it easier to see, but keeping them weak so that it didn't scare off any bugs.

All they had seen so far were a few caterpillar Pokémon, which didn't really take any of their fancy personally. They'd seen a lot of two particular Caterpillars, new to Holly and Nathen. One was a normal caterpillar like body with five body sections. It was dull purple in colour, and its face was black, its mouth pincers making it look vaguely like a skull, as well as its antennae. Its eyes were red. All over its body it had flattened, near invisible hairs, and on the end of its tail is a red or black stinger.

The other common new one they saw was the same sort of length, with most of its body is green, but its head half white and half black, with yellow eyes and green antennae, along with green pincers. Its legs were round and stubby, and its back section has a small, black, rounded addition that they can use to neutralise poisons in foods before eating. These two Pokémon were Irritillar and Naturillar respectively.

Gemma searched through a few trees at the side of a small path that had been worn into the forest by constant use, looking for bug nests or colonies. As she continued to walk through the trees, she felt her foot stop higher off the ground as she trod on something, hearing a little noise. Looking down, she saw a small caterpillar appearing Pokémon.

It had a basic caterpillar like form, with five body sections. The main body was a darker pink, with a lighter pink, heart shaped head, with two even light pink sections where the antennae would be, shaped like the top of a heart. Its eyes are a deeper pink. Its legs are all slightly shaped as hearts, and are deep pink too. On its end body section it has a deep heart shaped addition.

The Pokémon had a scruff mark on its back now, and whimpered a bit from being trod on. Gemma knelt down and gently petted the Caterpillar's back, an apology, "Sorry about that, didn't see you there."

"Luv… Luvbug!" The Pokémon said, looking at her, tilting its head. Behind it, another little voice echoed the same words, and Gemma looked to see another of the same Pokémon.

"You two a little family, hm? Sorry, really, I didn't mean to nearly squish ya," Gemma apologised. The trees at her rear shook a bit as Holly came through them, looking over her shoulder.

"Whatcha found, Gemma?" She asked, walking over and looking closer at the Pokémon, "Aw, they're cute! Wonder what they are…" The red haired girl added as she grabbed her Pokédex, holding it up so it could scan the two Pokémon.

"They called out 'Luvbug'," Gemma told her as the Dex booted up, beeping and then speaking.

**"Luvbug, the Love Caterpillar Pokémon. Luvbug are peaceful Pokémon, who are known for staying in family cells for a long time," **Recited the Dex, before beeping to signal the end of the entry.

"They really are rather cute," Holly said, kneeling and petting the other one a bit, letting it crawl onto her hand and up her arm, giggling, "Heh, tickles."

"How about we capture these two then? I have space to keep it on me, you can always switch it out with others if you keep it too, right? Since you've got a link set up and all," Gemma suggested, letting the other crawl up her arm too.

"Sure!" Holly nodded, grabbing the empty Poké Ball. Curiously, the small Pokémon on her arm tapped it, capturing itself, "…Well, that was rather simple."

Gemma giggled, grabbing an empty Poké Ball and holding it out for the little bug. Luvbug tilted its head, before tapping the end of the button, sucking itself inside of the ball with a red light, "There we go! I think I'll name her… Maeve."

"You name all yours too?" Holly asked as she stood up, putting the Poké Ball away.

"Yep, I like using human names too, makes them seem more like friends straight off the bat," Gemma grinned, putting hers on her belt and patting it, then patting her other Poké Balls, "Rylee my Nixiona, Dillon my Twitwing, and Nadia my Lumikitt."

"Nice names," Holly said.

"Hey, girls, where are you?" Nathen called from outside the bundle of trees, the girls able to see his flames shining through the gaps in the trunks.

"We're just in here, one second Nate!" Gemma called back, then looking to Holly, "Let's go back out to him, he still needs to catch at least one Pokémon."

"Yeah, alright."

The two fought their way out from the trees, careful not to set them on fire, and clambered out between the barky trunks by Nathen, who turned to them as soon as he heard them.

"What were you doing in there?" He asked.

"I was looking for bug types, and we found a couple, two Luvbug," Gemma said, showing him the image on Holly's Pokédex, "They were only small and we just had to tap them to capture them."

"Cool," Nathen said, "So, now we just keep searching? I think I found a spot where there seemed to be buzzing coming from it, it could just be more Combee, but you never know," He suggested, gesturing over to an area behind some more trees. Gemma and Holly glanced over, before nodding, Holly putting her Pokédex away. Nathen lead them over to the patch of trees he had mentioned.

Peering through the branches and trunks, the three could see a sleeping wall of Combee, hovering in mid air despite the fact they weren't conscious.

"Guess it was just more Combee," Nathen said with a light sigh, standing back. The girls kept watching however, eyes widening a bit, "Come on, let's move on."

"Uh… Nathen?"

"What? It's just some Combee, come on," Nathen said, raising an eyebrow.

"Um…"

Before the girls could say anymore, another Pokémon burst through the trees, a lot bigger than just a Combee. It knocked the two young girls off their feet and broke some of the tree's branches, hovering with a buzzing sound roughly a metre off the ground and looking around, eyes settling on Nathen.

It looked a lot like Vespiquen in general design and colours, but with some notable differences. The main upper body section is more angled; less rounded, and is totally black instead of yellow. Its arms are mainly the same, except the claws are sharper and longer. It has less a narrow waist-like section, instead a more human masculine figure, still black, that leads into split legs like trousers, instead of the dress form, but also formed like out of parts of honeycombs. Its head is sharper shaped, but still with the red gem and red eyes, with longer and sharper pincers. Its wings are more angled, and all yellow on the Pokémon was darker.

"Veeeesp! King, Vesp!" It hissed, buzzing more, its red eyes hardening the glare on Nathen. Nathen slowly dug out his Pokédex, not wanting to make sudden movements that would make it attack, and let it scan the Pokémon.

**"Vespiking, the Beehive Pokémon, and the male evolved form of a Combee. Vespiking are less commonly found raising nests of Combee than Vespiquen, but have been known to raise bachelor squads or small families of fighters. They fight against other Vespiking for the best Vespiquen mate each year****."**

"I see… did I insult your colony of fighters?" Nathen said, slipping the Dex back into his pocket and looking up at the Pokémon, "I wasn't accusing them of being weak, they're just not what I'm looking for."

"King! Vesssspiking!" The Pokémon hissed, getting into a battle stance in mid air.

"Oh, I wouldn't try that," Nathen continued calmly, flaring up his flames more, making Vespiking back off slightly and hiss and buzz louder, "You don't like that do you?"

"Vesp!"

"Nathen, be careful!" Gemma said, worry in her tone, as she stood up, "Don't get stung or anything!"

"I'll be fine, don't worry," Nathen said to her with a smile, keeping one eye on the bug, "You know me well enough to know I can handle something small like this."

"…But still!"

The boy chuckled as he turned his attention back to the Pokémon, holding one hand out in front of him, sparking up a flame in the palm. Vespiking tensed, preparing to counter, but the powered up flamethrower that came from the spark of fire was enough to knock the Beehive Pokémon into the tree's branches above the girls. Nathen grabbed his empty Poké ball, and with a swift throw, hit the Pokémon with it and captured it inside. It fell to the ground beneath the tree and shook three times, before stopping.

"…Whoa," Holly said with slightly widened eyes as Nathen grabbed the Poké Ball and put it in his pocket, "You made that look simple!"

"Put enough power into an attack and that is easy," Nathen said with a shrug, "Well, I think this Pokémon should be all I'll need to stand a chance in this, how long do you think's left?"

"Probably only five or ten minutes now," Holly said, "We may as well start heading back to the entrance of the forest, we won't find anything else here."

"Yeah, let's go. Man, I can't wait 'til we get to eat! I'm starved!" Gemma said, blushing a bit as her stomach began to rumble right on que. Nathen chuckled, grabbing her hand.

"We can go and eat soon, don't worry," He said. Gemma giggled nervously then smiled, nodding, grabbing onto Holly's wrist and keeping hold of Nathen's hand, running off afterwards, "Hey!"

"Hey!"

"Now you know what it feels like!" She said, sticking her tongue out at them, giggling after and continuing to run back to the entrance.

~X~X~X~

**_(Berry Diner – Roughly an hour later)_**

"Yummy! These berries really are delicious!" Gemma said with a grin as she ate another forkful of the sweet berry pie she had in front of her.

It was dark out now, the moon was starting to raise in the blackening sky, time had gone quick since they had arrived in Berrybud. It had only been two days since the three had met up, due to their fast… 'walking' on the way to the city. The contest had ended just over an hour ago, and Nathen had tied with who they found was the gym leader of the city, who had caught a Pokoh bug type, a wasp Pokémon called Shadasp. Right after the contest she had released it however, which they were told was just how she did things by a native of the city who had seen their confusion. The three all still had their newly captured Pokémon on them, Nathen and Holly were planning on deciding whether to send it to Fir and Pine, or to keep it and send another back.

"Well, they're famous for a reason," Holly said as she took a bite of her own berry pie, one with a slightly sharper taste than Gemma's soft and sweet one, "They really are great though, I agree."

"This one tastes nice too, but it's a bit hot," Nathen said, swallowing some of his pie and then taking a sip from a lemonade on the table.

"Wimp," Gemma teased, sticking her tongue out.

"You try it, it is rather hot," Nathen said, looking at her and taking a forkful of his pie, offering it to her. Gemma blushed a bit, but ate the chunk off the end of the cutlery, chewing, then quickly swallowing and taking a gulp of her own drink, Nathen letting out a light laugh, "Told you."

"I am reminded why I don't like spicy berries…" Gemma said, coughing once and sticking her tongue out, taking another gulp of her drink right after. Holly reached over the table to Nathen's plate and stole a bit of the pie with her own fork, eating it.

"It's not that bad," She said, swallowing and only taking a small sip of her drink, "Looks like you're the wimp here Gemma."

"Oh shuddup," The eleven year old retaliated, sticking her tongue out at the slightly older girl again, blowing a raspberry. Holly flicked a bit of the insides of the pie at her, landing on her nose, making Gemma go cross eyed as she tried to look at it. Nathen shook his head with a smile and wiped the berry off her nose with a napkin, "Heh, thanks."

"Today's been fun, hasn't it?" Holly commented as she took another bite of her pie, "We may have meant to do the gym if we could, but it was still fun."

"Yeah, I agree. We got a chance to look around some of the city, and got new Pokémon," Nathen said with a nod, finishing off his pie now, pushing the plate away a bit and sneakily stealing some of Gemma's, making her smack him lightly upside the head.

"We'll do the gym for you two tomorrow, right? Then off to Beebud town for my first ever contest!" Gemma beamed, taking a big bite of pie.

"You better get some training in tomorrow then, shorty," Nathen said, stacking up the three now empty plates, and finishing off his drink. He dug into his pocket for his wallet, and put out enough money for all of them before putting the wallet away.

"Yep, I know. I need to do some appeal stuff, then I need help on how to battle, I've hardly done much battling other than some limited normal training you gave me, Nathen, when we met and stuff. So I'll need more help," Gemma said, looking at her friend, mentor and crush. He nodded.

"I'll help you out."

"I'll help too if you like," Holly said, "It'd get some training in for me too then."

"Well then, we can all train for a bit before the gym, and then a bit after too, before heading on to the next town," Nathen said, "We better head back to the inn for a bit of rest then, we'll have to get up rather early to get in some good training before the gym opens."

"But I don't wanna sleeeep…" Gemma whined, pouting, then promptly yawning as soon as her sentence was finished.

"I think your body disagrees," Holly pointed out, "Come on, let's go get you to sleep sleepy head," She said with a grin, before yawning too.

"Says the other yawner," Gemma said, standing up, "Alriiiiight, let's go back," She pushed Nathen lightly until he stood up so she could get out, then took a few steps, letting out another yawn, and then… falling flat on her butt.

"See, told you that taking so many rides was bad for your ability to walk," Nathen said with a playful wink, helping her up onto his back. Gemma kicked his leg lightly.

"I'm just tired, meanie."

"A moment ago you didn't want to sleep."

"Just because I'm tired doesn't mean I wanna sleep," Gemma said, sticking out her tongue and then yawing again, nuzzling her head against Nathen's back.

"And that doesn't mean your body will listen to that want," Nathen said, shifting her up lightly, making her a bit more comfortable as her arms wrapped around his torso.

"Let's get back to the inn, she looks ready to drop off on your back," Holly said, poking Gemma's side and getting a thwack on the shoulder. Holly took a step away, not wanting to be hit again, before giggling as she heard Gemma's soft snores, "Too late, she's asleep."

"Come on," Nathen said, paying the money needed and then leading out of the diner, heading through the now streetlamp lit city toward the inn. The bug types still flew around, with some Volbeat and Illumise flying around performing miniature dances, visible mainly due to the bright lights of their tail. Gemma snuggled more against Nathen's back, grip tightening around him, snores continuing as she slept relatively peacefully.

"Once she's asleep she really is hard to wake, huh?" Holly said as they walked.

"Yeah, she's always been like that as long as I've known her. Hyper as hell throughout the day, but try to wake her when she's asleep and you're going to be trying for a while," Nathen said, smiling to himself, remembering a few such occasions.

"How long have you two known each other exactly?"

"Hm… just under a year or so I'd say."

"Really? You two seem like you've known each other for years…" Holly said, tilting her head. Nathen chuckled.

"I suppose we just clicked early on, we built up a level of trust fast and it continued to raise. She was in a state when I first saw her, but all she really needed to start recovering was someone she could trust," The runaway TUA member said, smiling more feeling Gemma snuggle yet again, "I needed someone too at that time, though I can't help but feel I've dragged her into more than she can handle. I can't be sure I won't be being chased down by another team, not just Existence…"

"If Existence want her back so bad, it won't've made a difference," Holly said, "Gemma seems really happy with you."

"I'm glad she is, she deserves that."

"We're back," Holly then said as they reached the inn. She slowly opened the door and held it open for Nathen to come in, before closing it silently. She dug the key to their room out of her pocket, and they made their way up the stairs to where their room was, the inn was silent, and both cringed whenever a floorboard creaked.

Holly put the key in the lock and turned it, a clicking noise heard as the door opened and she pushed it, walking in and closing it behind them again as Nathen walked in. The teen walked to the bunk bed and managed to lay Gemma up on her bed, just removing her shoes, glasses and jacket for her, and undoing her hair from its plaited bun, smiling as she grabbed her Embolf toy by instinct and held it tight. He tucked her in, then grabbed his stuff from his bag and went to the small bathroom to change as Holly changed in the main room. When they were both done, they bid each other goodnight, and clambered into bed to go to sleep.

~X~X~X~

**_(00:08am)_**

Gemma tossed and turned in her sleep, whimpering, holding the toy in her arms tighter than ever. Some tears were forming under her eyelids, a nightmare plaguing her mind. She let out whimpers of 'no, don't', 'please stop', and things to the same effect, her grip only tightening. Her hair frizzed up from the constant friction against the pillow, tears starting to spill from beneath her eyes, weak sobs breaking out in her sleep. Then, as she rolled herself onto the side nearest the steps, the toy popped out from her arms, and fell out between the wooden supports of the side. Almost immediately she tensed and sat up, looking around with teary eyes, panicked slightly.

"Wh-Where…?" She asked herself, looking around with blurry vision, then fumbling for her glasses, only succeeding in knocking them to the floor. She sighed and clambered off the bed quickly, not caring about her need for sight, just caring about finding what was missing from her arms. In the bottom bunk, Nathen stirred from the thud of her feet on the floor, picking up on her sobs and sniffles as she scrambled to find something. He sat up slowly, feeling something on his lap shift, the toy that had fallen from the top bunk having fell onto his bunk and shifted as he moved in his sleep.

"Gem…?" He asked, making the girl jump. She glanced up with blurred eyes, relaxing a bit seeing him, but still looking panicked, "You okay…?"

"I-I lost m-my Embolf t-toy…" She sniffled, searching around on the floor more. Nathen held it out to her, the girl immediately taking it and hugging it tightly, kissing its head and keeping it against her chest, "Th-Thank you…"

"No need, Gemma… it only fell, you didn't need to panic so much…" Nathen said, stroking her hand after taking a hold of it.

"I-I… had another n-nightmare is all…" Gemma said, wiping her eyes with her other hand, toy held tight. Nathen's expression softened even more.

"Oh Gem… come here…" He said, holding his arms out for her. Gemma sniffled and then let a sob break out, clambering onto his bed and wrapping her arms around him, sobbing onto his chest, gripping his black shirt tightly. Nathen rubbed her back, kissing her hair softly, trying to calm her down, "Shhh… it's okay… shhhhh…"

"I-It w-was th-the same one a-as always… s-seeing… wh-what happened to Embolf…"

"Shhh… don't think about it… it's okay…" He slowly leant back to lay on the bed, tucking her in under his covers with him, stroking her hair, "Don't cry… shhhhh…"

"Th-Thank… th-thank you…" The Embolf implant sniffled, another sob breaking out, but her eyes starting to droop. Nathen lightly hummed to her, trying his best to calm her down so she could sleep peacefully now. Her grip on his shirt loosened as she began to drift off, sobs and sniffles quietening down, snores replacing them. The boy looked at her as she fell into a quiet sleep again, peaceful.

"Oh Gem… how long will it take for this to stop haunting you so much…" He said softly to himself, stroking her hair as she slept.

~X~X~X~

**_(Pourvale Town – Existence Base – 00:46)_**

"Special Agent Merquatic, I trust you understand the importance of this assignment," A commanding female voice over a communications link, to a young male who was facing the screen the voice came from, blocking it from our view.

"Of course, Ma'am," The boy said in a polite tone, arms behind his back, "Without this 'Link', we cannot complete our goal. But what of the male link? And, may I ask, what is in it for me? This is a long and difficult mission, stealing her away will not be easy if I simply go in and take her straight off," he continued in the same polite tone, "Not meaning any offence, Ma'am."

"None taken, agent. Forget about the other link, we are relying on one of that darn team Universal Aura's agents that we have used for experiments before to bring him in, we'll hijack him for our use," The female said, "And you have right to ask. For this mission a promotion will definitely be on offer, and if you so please… the girl will become yours."

"A tempting offer there, Ma'am. I'll consider the second term, and I will take the mission. When shall I set out?" He ran a hand through light blue hair, though we could see nothing much else from behind, in the dark.

"You must set out tomorrow, the last sighting was near Budbloom town, so they cannot have gone further than Berrybud City. Head to Beebud or Skyvale, that should be a suitable place to introduce yourself."

"As you request, Ma'am. I shall bring Brylee along with me?"

"Yes, that oblivious twin of yours will be of use, she'll make your intentions seem perfectly innocent. Remember, make her feel you can empathise with her, she's weak minded, you can easily slip into their group and then take her when the opportunity arises."

"Of course Ma'am, if needs be my gifts can come up useful," The boy said, nodding at the image on the screen. The woman's voice seemed to obtain a smirk.

"Of course. If you so choose to accept the second term of rewards, you may do as you please with her as long as her body is not damaged for the process. After we have converted her too, you can yet again do what you please when we do not need her for her unlocked powers."

"I will keep that in mind. I will report in soon, Ma'am. I hope I will not disappoint."

"I am sure you won't, Braylen."

The communication cut off as the boy turned to walk out, smirking, purple eyes hard. They flashed a lighter purple for a moment as he walked out of the room and went to where he slept when in the base, making sure to pack all he would need from the room before tomorrow, where he and his ever oblivious twin sister would head off for his mission, and his mission alone. Of course, his sister didn't have to know that truth.

~X~X~X~

**Me: Yay! I got it done! Yay! *giggle* I'm happy with this, it's a decent length, and whilst some of it was mostly filler, it all had its purposes and stuff, and I like building the characters and character relations. Legendary Fairy had two more OC shown here, Final Heir's other two should appear next chapter or the one after that, probably. I also showed one of my two new ones briefly too, he'll get explained more along with his sister soon.  
>The next chapter could be a while, I'll be working on SR again next and have homework, coursework, etc to do too still, so… *shrug* We'll see<strong>

**R&R!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Me: Here we go again! This should now be easier when I have time to write it, because I finished the Monoko Info with a little help off Nathen, so yay! *is super proud of self* It's very rare I'm proud of myself so yay! Anyway, onto the chapter.**

**OH MY GOD THIS THING HAS BEEN LIKE 9 MONTHS OR SOMETHING WTF?-! …Yeah, sorry! I had shit to do! *flail***

**Chapter 5**

Gemma slowly began to stir in the morning, slowly beginning to register the warm arms wrapped around her small form, familiar comforting arms that she was plenty used to. She smiled softly to herself, cheeks going a bit pink, and nuzzled up to Nathen's torso more, deciding to wait 'til he woke up to bother moving at all. His arms tightened around her, his face nuzzling into her hair, hand softly combing his fingers through it, smoothing it out. Gemma's face grew in colour but she stayed still and content, nuzzling a little more.

"Comfy over there?" A slightly hushed voice asked her from the single bed. Gemma grew pinker and looked over at Holly, who was leaning on one of her hands, looking over at her, elbow against the bed, "Well? Are ya?"

"Sh-Shuddup…" Gemma replied, before mumbling, "And yes I definitely am…"

"Heh, thought you would be. Well, ya might wanna wake Nathen up soon; we have to get up eventually," The red haired girl said, sitting up properly and stretching, "We were gonna get in some training, remember?"

"Yeah yeah, I know," Gemma said, looking back to Nathen, and nudging him lightly, "Naaaaathen, its morning~!" She said in a sing-song voice, nudging him again and looking him in the face. Slowly his blue eyes opened, taking a moment to focus before he smiled, stretching out with a yawn – arms leaving their position around Gemma. Gemma had to suppress an urge to pout at that and move his arms back around her.

"Morning Gem, Morning Holly," He said with a smile, sitting up, "Did you get a good sleep eventually Gemma?" The girl nodded, sitting herself up too. Nathen smiled more, ruffling her hair, "Good, I don't like it when you have nightmares, it worries me," He added, giving a light frown as he smoothed the ruffled hair back down. Gemma gave a pout, hugging him around the neck.

"Naaaaathen… Don't worry, come on, you don't need to worry about silly little me…" She said, tapping his nose, making him laugh, "C'mon, I'm fine, just a dream, 'ey?"

"But it's…" Nathen began, before Gemma put a finger on his lips and shook her head, sticking her tongue out playfully, poking his mouth. Nathen chuckled, taking her hand away from his mouth and locking their fingers, Gemma grinning and locking their fingers on their other hands, lifting them up above their heads and playfully pushing, trying to make him tumble back. The blue haired boy shook his head with a laugh as he used his superior strength to push back and tumble her so her head landed by the end of the bed, and he was over her, still pushing against her hands to keep her down whilst she attempted to wrestle him off her and shove him over to fall back on the bed too. She was failing, badly.

Holly shook her head and laughed at them, and then snickering quietly, she crept off to the en suite bathroom, taking the clothes she was going to change into with her. Gemma and Nathen failed to notice this as they continued to wrestle against each other, Nathen letting her overpower him once or twice, but quickly turned the tables back again. Gemma giggled as it continued, before eventually her arms gave out when trying to push him up, and Nathen fell onto her, nearly winding the smaller girl, their faces landing inches away from each other, after bumping heads. Both grunted, and both turned differing shades of red, Gemma deep scarlet and Nathen a pale red.

"U-Uh… Oops," Nathen said, chuckling a little and pushing himself off her, but one arm slipping off the edge of the bed, making him fall again as Gem attempted to get up, winding her properly this time, letting out a sharp wheeze as Nathen panicked and quickly rolled off her onto the floor with a small thud, "Oh crap, sorry Gem! Oh crap, are you okay?-!"

"Y-Yeah… I-I'll be fine…" She coughed a bit, sitting herself up and rubbing her sternum, "M-Man you're heavy…"

"Oh thanks," Nathen said playfully, ruffling her hair and giving her a concerned look. Gemma gave him a look back, and got to her feet, "I'll go to the b-… wait, where the hell is Holly?"

"In here you two!" Holly snickered from within the bathroom, hoping Nathen and Gemma wouldn't kill her. It was harmless fun really, she wouldn't be long, so they could wait.

"…Holly you little…" Gemma coughed, growling lightly, "Where is the logic in that?-!"

"It's fun to mess with you," Holly said, giggling, still getting dressed, glancing out of the window repetitively now that there was a clear sky above the city, not the tree covering of the previous little town. It didn't change the fact that she didn't see anything, but it had become force of habit to check for the little figure she wanted to see in the sky, no matter how unlikely it was she would ever see it. If it ever passed by, knowing her luck, she'd miss it.

Nathen let out a sigh, "Just perfect… now what?" Gemma blushed and shrugged, bringing her knees up to her chest, "We are in a bit of a rush… so… I could turn my back, and so could you… I mean I guess that'd still feel damn awkward, but…"

"Y-yeah guess th-that… th-that might be the best solution…" Gemma was deep red as she spoke, looking down. Nathen kissed her hair and ruffled it, before standing back and letting her stand to grab her clothes. Shyly she stood up and did so, hiding herself away in the corner of the room as Nathen turned his back by the bed, grabbing his clothes and pulling off his nightshirt to change.

Gemma timidly began to change from her night clothes into her normal clothes, wanting to check Nathen wasn't peeking (she knew he wasn't the type to, but she couldn't help the nervous feeling), but knowing she could catch him at any awkward moment during his time changing, she avoided doing so. With the nightclothes removed she cursed her decision not to do it one half of her body at a time, and quickly pulled on the new day's clothes.

She didn't think about what she was doing when she immediately turned around after finishing dressing, cursing her decision mentally and preparing to be faced with an embarrassing situation – letting out a relieved sigh seeing that Nathen was dressed fully apart from his shirt not being totally down. Nathen smiled at her with a light blush, pulling his shirt down to cover his abdomen, then grabbing his jacket and slipping his arms inside, soon followed by his hands into his gloves. Gemma took a moment to get over her embarrassment, before grabbing her jacket and shoes, pulling them on. Nathen followed with his own shoes, just as Holly came out of the bathroom.

"…You two got dressed in the same room anyway? Geez I was only gonna take a minute or two more!" She said, raising her eyebrows and giving the two changed implantees a look. Both had faint red on their cheeks, and they looked to opposite sides. Holly rolled her eyes, "You at least turned around right? If not, Nathen you are a perv."

"W-We turned a-around!" Gemma protested quickly, giving Holly a stern look as both she and Nathen turned redder, "G-God Holly!" Holly raised an eyebrow, smirking lightly and then just shaking her head.

"Yeah yeah, whatever ya say. C'mon lovebirds, let's go out, grab a breakfast snack from one of the stores then go get in this bit of training before the gym. Just like we planned yesterday, right?" Holly said, smirk on her face that wouldn't go away. The two blushing trainers slowly nodded, Gemma managing to get deeper red despite how she already seemed much too scarlet as it was. Nathen gave Holly a light smack upside the head for the lovebird comment, then nodded.

"Let's get going," He said, shaking his head and forcing his blush to disappear, walking out of the room, leaving the others behind. Gemma glared lightly at Holly.

"I was only messing," Holly said, hands held up defensively, "And calling you lovebirds was totally harmless!"

"Not when he obviously doesn't feel that way…" Gemma sighed, "C'mon, let's just go. I'm starved," She followed out after Nathen, jogging a little to catch up. Holly laughed softly, shaking her head, and walking out after them, soon jogging a little too.

~X~X~X~  
><strong><em>(Budbloom City Centre – 9:00am)<em>**

"So, we do some normal training, then trying to help Gemma, with some contest practice after?" Holly said, tilting her head a little, eating a bacon sandwich that they had all bought in a small café. She was resisting the urge to comment on the fact that Gemma was seated on Nathen's lap, despite the fact they could drag a chair from another table, as both of them also ate their sandwiches.

"Yeah, depending on how long we take with normal training for the thing about the contests. We do have to fit in the gym today," Nathen said, one arm around Gemma's waist, the other feeding himself. Gemma sat happily on his lap, chomping away on her breakfast, jacket draped around her shoulders as if she were a child pretending to be a superhero.

"I need soooome help! The contest is in the next town!" She whined a little, pouting at them both, "The gym is open all day; it's not that big of a rush…" She pouted more at Nathen than she did Holly, though the effect was quickly ruined when Holly pulled her hair tie out, making all her braided hair come loose and fall in her face, spare the two dangling beside her cheeks. Nathen couldn't help but laugh, parting the hair in the middle and tapping her nose, making her blush before she quickly turned to Holly, half to glare at the said girl, and half to hide her reddening face.

"Whatcha glaring at me for?" Holly said innocently, though she was trying not to laugh. Gemma flicked ketchup at her, sticking her tongue out, and then trying to braid her hair again, but failing without a mirror.

"Here, let me do it for you," He shifted her to properly sit on his lap, looking away from him, starting to re-braid her sandy coloured hair, being careful not to pull. Gemma squirmed a few times, but let him, feeling his fingers weave through her hair easily, twisting the three pieces he had separated it to into the twists and turns of the braid. Slowly her long hair took form the way she wanted it, and Nathen twisted it into her braid-bun, clipping it up and setting her on her feet as they finished eating, "There we go."

"I think you've done better than me," Gemma smiled softly, carefully touching the bun, making sure not to make it fall out again, but lightly tracing a finger over the lumps the braid formed.

"Hair drama over, can we go get training done now?" Holly asked, putting down her share of the money as Nathen dug out both his and Gemma's, despite her saying she'd paid for herself. Nathen gave a quick 'of course' as he took up the money and went to pay, the two girls following him and then walking to the door as they all began to exit.

"Of course. Besides, it was you that caused the hair drama, so blame yourself there," Nathen chuckled, grunting a little as Gemma hopped onto his back again, wrapping her arms and legs around him, holding tightly, "Hey little wolf, you ever going to give me warning when you do that?"

"Nope!" She tittered, squeezing her legs tighter, making him wheeze a bit, which she quickly apologised for, "Imma gonna keep on latching onto you and sticking like a leech," She stuck her tongue out, touching his neck with it, then playfully latching onto his neck with her gums over her teeth. Nathen laughed, and even Holly laughed as she shook her head, pushing her hair behind her ears and hiding her face in her hands for a moment, "I'm crazy!"

"We know," Holly laughed.

~X~X~X~  
><strong><em>(Forest Clearing – 9:14am)<em>**

"It's a bug type gym, so we should work with Pokémon that would be our best choice against her," Nathen said, playing with one of his Poké Balls, "So fire types, ice, etc." He threw his Poké Ball, releasing a small Pokémon from it, which shook its fur as soon as its paws touched the ground, spraying a light shower of snow everywhere, that appeared out of the inside of its fur. It appeared to be the size of a wolf cub, with ice blue fur coating most of its body, with a white underbelly. Its ice blue eyes looked around, focusing on its trainer, its fur which had appeared prickled up like icicles when it came out of the Poké Ball was now smooth and flattened, "This is a Crystolf, Solace Pokémon."

Gemma visibly tensed up at there even being a type of wolf Pokémon in front of her, resisting the urge to claw and wring her wrists as she always did, knowing how petty it would seem to be upset over a Pokémon that wasn't even the same type as what she was associating it with.

"Cool! Um… Blaze, you need the most training so c'mon out~!" Holly mused as she threw her own Poké Ball, letting out the small monkey Pokémon, who's flame ignited as he jumped, confused by the new humans, and Pokémon. Holly gave a soft giggle, "Just new friends Blaze," she told him, leaning down to pet his head. He squirmed but nodded, smiling at his trainer, "He's a newer Pokémon, only had him a couple of weeks, he's not as used to other trainers and domesticated Pokémon."

"You going to let one out too Gem?" Nathen asked after nodding at Holly, pushing his hair back into a small ponytail at the base of his neck the black strands too short to be pushed into it, falling by the sides of his face. Gemma blushed a little to herself, always liking when he had his hair back, and smiled, nodding once, throwing her coat to the side and rolling up her sleeves, grabbing a Poké Ball.

"No flying off now, crazy Pokémon, but Rylee come on out!" Gemma said, throwing her Poké Ball, letting out her substitute Pokémon starter. The large phoenix appeared, its four large wings spreading out, light orange with golden hints and tips. Its beak and talons were gold, with golden plates on the tops of its legs, with a yellow underbelly and fiery red head, with long golden feathers running from the top of its head down.

"Nix! Nixio!" The Nixiona squawked, flapping its two front wings, nuzzling its beak against Gemma's head. Gemma smiled and giggled a little.

"So how're we training?" Gemma asked, petting her Pokémon's feathers, making sure not to mess them around too much as she knew it irritated the Pokémon.

"Try out some moves; you try out combinations, unless you're not planning on Rylee for your first one. But any combination practice is good," Nathen smiled, petting his Pokémon's ice cold fur, "That's the best way for now. We may do some practice battles later."

"Alright then!" Gemma said enthusiastically, before her arms slumped, one scratched her head, and her face turned confused as she tried to think of combinations she could use. Nathen just sweatdropped before chuckling and standing, gesturing for his Pokémon to go get ready to train. Crystolf barked a nod, and stood ready to practice its moves and techniques.

"I would use Vespiking as a practice opponent, as it would no doubt be one of the leader's Pokémon, but I think it's a bit too hostile for that yet," Nathen said as he looked to Holly, Gemma still deciding her course of action. Holly nodded.

"Yeah, we may as well just practice attacks and their force, make sure they work. Practice battles wouldn't work against each other with the typing and stuff," The red haired girl said, petting her Pokémon once more before letting it go to position, "Blaze, how about we get your Flamewheel down pat?"

"Char!" The Chimchar said, nodding in agreement.

"Crystolf, we'll work on Icicle Spear, okay?" Nathen said, his Pokémon nodding at him instantly with a small bark of its name, its breath appearing as icy and clear to see. Smiling, the blue haired boy gestured to a tree and instructed his Pokémon on how he should form the attack, and what to aim for strength wise. A small ball of white-blue light formed in its mouth as it focused on the thin tree trunk it was facing, and at its first shot one think spear of ice shot out, hitting the centre of the tree, "Good aim. Now try for more icicles."

"Okay then Blaze, try not to set anything on fire, but get the wheel up and going, hit the rock over there, not the trees around us," Holly ordered, gesturing to a large rock that should withstand many hits from the small Pokémon's attack. As Blaze shot a burning hot flame from his mouth and wrapped himself in it, and Crystolf continued to fire off attacks made of ice at the tree trunk, Gemma was still coming up with what she should do.

"Alright… combinations need to look good, when used in battle or in appeals… in battles, full on attacks aren't always best, and clever but beautiful combinations are a great advantage…" She repeated a lot of what Nathen had told her before, when he first told her about contests. She wasn't sure how he knew so much, but guessed that he had looked it up or something of the sort, or seen some on TV during his stays at inns during his escape run, "So… a stat move maybe? Combined with something damaging? That would work well in battles… I can work on appeals closer to the time, that's not quite as important I don't think…" she mused to herself, Rylee waiting impatiently by her side for her orders, "Alright, got it."

"Nixio!" Rylee said, her words probably translating into something along the lines of 'Finally!'. Gamma sweatdropped, and stood up from where she had sat at the Pokémon's feet.

"Okay, use feather dance, but light the feathers on fire too," She instructed, clambering up onto a branch. Rylee took to the air a few feet off the ground, and nodded at the orders she was given, flapping her wings as the under layer feathers began to glow, and she shot glowing feathers from the layer, the glow dissipating to reveal the yellow feathers, which suddenly burnt brightly as Rylee hit them with a small burst if inferno, setting them alight. They showered to the floor where the opponent would have been, and combusted as a pile, turning into ashes.

"Okay, that sort of worked~! We better keep working on it to get a good effect whilst keeping some power though," Gemma said, trying not to fall from the branch she was on.

**_(12:02pm)_**

"What time is it?" Gemma asked as she peeped down from a branch, hanging upside down, before feeling nauseous from looking at the height and flailing, falling to the floor, though she was quickly caught by Nathen. He half sighed, half laughed, looking at the sky.

"I'd say about twelve, miss klutzy," He told her, looking at her, shaking his head and setting her on her feet. She pouted a bit, crossing her arms.

"Think it's time to head to the gym? Or lunch and then the gym?" Holly asked, petting and then returning her Unfezant, who she had trained for one of the roughly three hours they had been training.

"Lunch first may be best, so we have energy for it," Nathen said, "I can whip us up something quick. Ramen anyone?"

"Yay Ramen!" Gemma cheered, in time with her Lumikitt, a small white cat-like Pokémon. It was about the size of a kitten, with two white tails which each held transparent spheres, which flashed with bright light as it cheered alongside its trainer. Around the top of its head, a yellow halo appears to be forming, with yellow fur on its chest, and up to its mid legs. Its eyes are bright yellow and cheerful, and its large ears are tufted with more white fur.

"Looks like you and Nadia are equally excited about the concept of Ramen," Nathen chuckled, going to his bag to get some cooking stuff out.

"Heh, she likes it too," Gemma giggled, petting her small Kitten Pokémon, giggling as it purred out its name, "And I like it toooooo much."

"Sounds fine to me too," Holly said. Nathen smiled, nodded, and started cooking.

**_(Berrybud City Gym – 1:00pm)_**

"Aw maaaan it's such a mess in 'ere…" Bea whined, looking around her chaotic gym, scratching her curl covered head. She groaned after she did so, getting more honey in her hair from her hand, her hand tangled in her red locks as she tried to pull it back out, "Ow! Man Bea you are so stupid! How did I let those Pokémon out _again_ and let them get in here?"

"Hello?" A male voice called from the front of the gym, making Bea jump and then panic, realising again how messy her gym had become due to her escaped Pokémon, which she had only got back into the self named, self constructed Bea House (she's very clever with naming, right?) a few minutes ago. She scrambled to right the mess within about half a metre radius of her, standing up straight just as the male walked in along with two females. Their expressions immediately have away their first impressions of the disaster zone.

"Hi there everyone, y'all here to battle me?" Bea asked as the main three walked into her gym, stepping around broken Combee hives and flower pots, stepping on a few patches of honey, lifting their foot with honey hanging from it in strings, attached to the floor on the other end. Each of the three had different levels of confusion on their face. Surely this mess couldn't be a gym?

"Um, yep. Two of us are, anyway. Tallest girl and me," Nathen said, helping a flailing Gemma lift herself off a particularly sticky patch of honey, which was holding both her feet to the floor at the same time.

"Arrighty then! Y'all friend can go sit in the stands with whoever be battling second. Two Pokémon each, first to lose two sound dandy to ya?" Bea beamed, spinning a Poké Ball on her finger, before it fell off and she deadpanned and sweatdropped. Picking it up quickly, she overcompensated with a huge smile, and then gestured toward the makeshift seating made out of Combee house panels, Gemma walking over with Nathen, her sitting on his lap due to a 'honey patch' (which wasn't actually there). Holly shrugged, walking to the position for Battle, her hands on the Poké Balls she was prepared to use.

"So, two Pokémon each, right?" Holly asked, swiftly organising her belt so her three possibilities were in easy reach.

"Yep! Two Pokémon, two defeats equals a loss, got it?" Bea said, holding the Poké Ball she had dropped tightly so that she didn't drop it again. Holly nodded, "Arrighty then! On the count of three, Pokémon out! One, two, three!"

"Penelope c'mon out!"

"Amorglide! C'mon out here and show 'em ya sting!"

After seeing the Pokémon, the three couldn't help but wonder why she had mentioned 'sting', seeing as it clearly wasn't a bee Pokémon. It had a deep pink body made of two parts, as well as a slightly darker pink head, with light but deep red eyes. It had two heart shaped additions on the sides of its heart shaped head, a lighter pink, in place of antennae. It has two wings on each body section, light pink in colour with a deeper pink heart shape in the middle. Behind each pair of wings are two deeper pink mini-wings. The Pokémon fluttered its wings, letting out a coo of its name.

"That looks a lot like our new bugs…" Gemma said, holding her Poké Dex up to scan the Pokémon, hearing a beep as the information processed.

**_Amorglide, the Love Butterfly Pokémon, and the evolved form of Lucoon. Amorglide spend the first month of their life as their evolved form searching for a mate, who becomes their mate for life. They are caring Pokémon who have often been known to try and help trainers in distress._**

"Must be the third form of your Luvbug Pokémon," Nathen said, holding Gemma tightly to keep her on his lap, resting his chin on her shoulder. Gemma nodded, glad her blush was hidden.

"Good match… both can fly…" Holly thought aloud to herself, muttering under her breath, counting her Pokémon's move set in her head. She couldn't help but sweatdrop at the fact that the person, or in this case Pokémon, holding the flags to start the match was a Combee. She wasn't even sure how exactly it was holding the flags whilst still flying, but dismissing it quickly, she faced the battle as the small honeycomb-like Pokémon raised both flags, and then dropped them, "Take to the air and give a start with Air Slash!"

The Unfezant's wings glowed light blue as it began to rapidly flap them, releasing multiple glowing blue discs that resembled saw blades at the opposing butterfly Pokémon, going at high speed that many Pokémon wouldn't be able to dodge. Amorglide waited for an order, though it looked ready to move at a moment's notice if needs be.

"Holly has an advantage, right? Bug isn't very strong against flying types, and flying is good against bug," Gemma asked, looking at Nathen. Nathen nodded.

"That Pokémon has a new type, Light. Light isn't very effective against flying though, if my memory is correct, so she definitely has a strong advantage here. That's one of her more experienced Pokémon, too," Nathen said, "But type isn't everything. Its strategy too," Nathen said, leaning his head against hers, "Gym Leaders have strategies that they use day by day, they know them better than most trainer's know their own strategies, and their Pokémon get more experience. Gym battles are more complicated than normal trainer battles," He explained, rubbing her hands, receiving only a nod from her.

"Use Light Ball and then Stun Spore!" Bea said, pointing quickly as the attack neared. Amorglide nodded, firing off a large, bright ball of light which headed straight for the spinning blades of air, breaking it into smaller sections that the Pokémon easily dodged, before it released a large burst of orange dust that slightly sparkled in the light that flowed in through a small skylight on the ceiling of the gym. The powder shot through the air in a concentrated ball before bursting out into a cloud as it hit Penelope, the bird inhaling it.

"Damn!" Holly cursed under her breath as she saw her Pokémon's wings seize up, Penelope only having enough remaining control to get her to the ground without crashing painfully, "Can you move at all?" The Unfezant let out a call to say no, twitching a little, coughing out some of the spores, "Damn…!"

"Yes! Paralyzed on the first hit!" Bea cheered, jumping in the air, before getting focused, holding up a clenched fist, other clenched at her hip, "Use Venom Spit!"

Letting out a calm coo of 'Glide', the pink Pokémon raised its wings back and flew up above the grounded Pokémon, throwing its head back before thrusting it down, expelling a sudden shot of bright white liquid at Penelope, which hit her all over her body, making the bird Pokémon let out a squawk as the venomous liquid burned the tips of some of its feathers. Holly quickly looked for the tell tale purple tinge to show poisoning, relieved to see she had not already gained a second status effect on top of the paralysis.

"Penelope, can you move yet?" The young trainer asked, sounding frantic. This was her first Monoko battle and already it wasn't going to plan. The Proud Pokémon shook its head, but when Holly saw it had at least that range of movement, she nodded to herself and decided on a plan of action.

"Go in f' Bug Bite!" The Gym Leader ordered. Amorglide's previously invisible teeth grew out and began to glow a bright white light, and she flew down at her fellow female Pokémon, head first and ready to bite and gnaw on the paralyzed Pokémon to get in as much damage as possible whilst Penelope was paralyzed. Holly's eyes focused on how close Amorglide was, and how long Penelope's neck was, waiting for just the right moment.

Right as Amorglide went to bite; Holly saw her opening and yelled out, "Penelope use Pluck _now_!"

Her beak glowing, Penelope thrust her neck out and sharply pecked the bug Pokémon on the head, taking the leader and the Pokémon by surprise, and causing super effective damage. Amorglide swiftly backed off, barely staying in the air, head now throbbing and super effective damage taken. Holly gave a silent cheer; glad she could fight back even a little as she waited for her Pokémon to be able to move again.

"Aw damnit..." Bea whined, "Amorglide ya arright?"

"Amore..." Amorglide said weakly, nodding, stretching its wings wide and positioning itself in a ready stance. Penelope did the same, with what little movement she was regaining.

"Silver Wind!" The gym leader ordered, muttering under her breath after, "Damn do I hate flying types..."

"Brace and take it Penelope," Holly ordered, clenching her fists a little. She watched closely as Amorglide flapped its heart shaped wings rapidly, making them begin to shine brightly, gradually going faster and faster, the white energy soon transforming into sharply shaped arches of light that flew on a powerful gust of air made by Amorglide's wings toward Penelope.

Penelope squawked and flinched as she was pushed back by the attack, it doing minimal damage but damage nonetheless.

As the barrage continued, Penelope raised her wings over her head to shield her, realisation taking a moment to hit her and her trainer. The paralysation has faded!

"Hell yes! Start with quick attack, get your body moving again!" Holly commanded, Penelope hastily taking to the air and following through with the order, shooting through the air at the Love Butterfly Pokémon, a white streak following her path as she slammed full force into Amorglide. The bug was knocked back, but stayed in the air, though this quickly changed as Holly's next order for Aerial Ace was shouted, and Penelope jerked back and then flew at Amorglide at full speed, white streaks surrounding her, the bird suddenly invisible just before it slammed into Amorglide with the super effective attack, throwing her to the ground, "Yes!"

The Combee referee raised the flag to show that Holly had taken the battle, making Holly cheer again and Bea whine, returning her Pokémon and thanking it for its 'buzzing' effort, telling her she would make sure she was healed and got a treat later. Bea then grabbed another of her Poké Balls, throwing it.

This time, her battle call fit: "Spitreeze! C'mon out and show 'em ya sting!"

The wasp Pokémon that the group had spotted and looked up out in the city the previous day appeared on the battle ground, soon hovering with an eerie silence in the air, its fast beating wings somehow causing no sound with the air around them unlike the previous Pokémon. Its sharp red eyes focused on its opponent, showing it wasn't going to accept going down to some super effective Pokémon's attacks easily, no matter the odds.

Combee raised and dropped the two flags again, letting out a small cry of its name to signal the start of the second battle.

Bea acted instantly, "Start wit' Toxic Spikes an' then Poison Sting!"

Forming a dark purple energy between its arm spikes, Spitreeze shot of a number of sharp objects from the energy that landed all around the Unfezant's feet, though Penelope quickly hovered above them before she took any damage. As the spikes began to give off a purple poisoned mist, the wasp shot off a number of purple spines at Penelope, bundled together in a group, each giving off a small light and mist from the poison they contained.

"Blow them back with gust and go for Sky Attack!" Holly ordered, watching her Pokémon rapidly flap its wings to create a large gust of wind which knocked the poisoned spines away from the Pokémon, sending them to the ground where they quickly disappeared. Following this, Penelope became coated in a white light that was harsh on the human eyes in the room as she swooped up into the air, preparing to attack.

"Take it, Spitreeze!"

"Take it…? But that's super effective… god knows the damage that'll do," Gemma said on the sidelines, looking upside down at Nathen, confused.

"She must have some reason. Let's just watch," The boy said, kissing her head making her blush as she turned back to the battle to see the outcome of the confusing move.

Going at full speed, the Proud Pokémon slammed into the poison type, causing immense damage and throwing it to the floor. As Penelope back away, Spitreeze barely managed to get up until he was thrown the one allowed item, a large Oran berry which restored enough health for him to move around a bit more. Penelope was confused by the whole point of the stunt, as were the other trainers in the room, before everything became apparent as the slow working effects of the opposing Pokémon's ability came into effect.

They all saw the hundreds of sharp prickles sink back into Spitreeze's body as Penelope began to writhe around, irritated by some unknown substance, and she looked in pain as damage took effect on her health.

"And that, y'all, was my Pokémon's special lil' ability Irritate! When its thr'atened by a Pokémon with an advantage in type or strength, it uses those little invisible spikes as defence. Good luck gettin' ya Pokémon to cooperate and concantrate now!" Bea grinned, accent chipper as usual and making her sound that much more happy but rather maniacal at the way she was saying what she did, "Arright! Poison Jab!"

"Penelope, prepare to dodge it!"

Spitreeze's arm spikes began to glow a blotchy purple, growing a little in thickness and size as it shot at speed at its opponent, striking her with the poison attack over and over, with very little defence from Penelope. Her skin was irritating her too much, affecting her concentration and not letting her listen to her trainer's orders to dodge or attack. Even her own self preservation instincts didn't break through the pure irritation, and soon enough Penelope crashed from the sky, eyes swirly, covered in spots of poison that would need treatment at the Pokémon Centre.

Combee's flags raised the appropriate way again, signalling the defeat of the flying type. Cursing, Holly returned her Pokémon and held the Poké Ball close, thanking her loyal flying type and putting the ball back on her belt, on the side that she used for Pokémon that needed healing. Hovering her hands over her other Poké Balls, she grabbed one of her other two choices, and threw it quickly, letting out her Glaceon, Icelady.

"Glace!" Icelady yelped, damaged by the Toxic Spikes, poisoning the Pokémon. Holly wished she had a Pecha berry with her, but realised she would just have to end the battle quickly so that the poison didn't decide the battle for her. As the flags were moved, Holly made sure to get in the first shot.

"Start it off with Blizzard!"

Thick snow pellets shot at the bug type with an icy wind surrounding them, going at the full force of a natural blizzard in the northern parts of each region, especially places such as Sinnoh and the two ice covered towns at the top of Monoko itself. Spreading out to make sure the Pokémon could barely avoid the attack, Spitreeze was soon taking the forceful damage of the icy move as the damage took effect instantly. With so much damage from Sky Attack, the Pokémon was already weak, and Holly hoped that would make finishing this battle easy.

"Retaliate wit' Venom Spit!" Bea countered, hoping her Pokémon could withstand the damage and find a way to win despite the fact the moves it had weren't all that strong in her Pokémon's condition, and that they couldn't cause super effective damage she was sure she would need. She had to just hope.

"Try that new move, Flash Freeze!" Holly said. It was a gamble, but it caused heavy damage to any Pokémon if it worked, and she had been practicing it earlier. As the venom shot at Icelady, she took it and hissed at the damage it caused combined with her already poisoned body, but used her focus to form the attack she had been ordered to use.

A small beam of ice formed in her mouth, soon firing off in a highly concentrated and powerful attack that struck the opponent dead on the chest, suddenly completely freezing it as well as causing damage. It fell to the floor, cracking some ice, but still leaving it frozen.

"Aw no fair! I'm the one who causes status issues!" Bea whined.

"Go for Iron Tail and end this!" Holly ordered finally, grinning as her Pokémon's tail slammed into the wasp, quickly ending the battle.

"Aw damn you _gotta_ be kiddin'!" Bea whined louder, throwing a bit of a tantrum in childish manner, throwing her other full Poké Ball in her silly rage. Holly and the others sweatdropped as she did so, but seeing a large Vespiking appear, everyone quickly fell silent as the annoyed Pokémon glared at its trainer, "Eep! I'm sorry Vespiking! I… uh…!"

Without warning, the Pokémon suddenly let out a sharp explosion of sticky honey, completely coating everyone in the room. The angry Pokémon then hissed something in its own language, before shaking its head and returning itself, leaving everyone standing there dripping in honey.

"…Okay, what just happened?" Gemma squeaked, squirming.

"Vespiking's Honey Shot…" Bea said, wiping honey away, "It's not tha' damagin'… just annoyin'… ugh…" Slowly, pushing through the broken boxes for Combee and the honey just left by their male evolution, she dug something from her pocket, and gave it to Holly, "The Honeycomb badge…"

The small badge was made up of three hexagons, two yellow and one orange. Inside the two yellow ones were smaller orange hexagons, making up the badge's shape.

"Thank you," Holly said, holding the badge in her hand tightly.

"Ya, uh, might wanna come back tomorra' or later to do yar badge, boy… this place is way too messy now… and so are all of ya…" Bea said, deep red, clearly embarrassed by what she had caused, "I'm so sorry."

"Its fine, no one likes losing…" Nathen said, wiping his face of honey, "We really better go get changed or something though…"

"This stuff is ruined!" One of the girls whined. Nathen sweatdropped, scratching his head.

"Looks like we need to go shopping…"

~X~X~X~

**_(Clothing Store – 2:30 pm)_**

"You wanna keep these despite the state they're in?" Nathen asked from outside the changing rooms, packing Gemma's old clothes away into her bag, which she had managed to clean, already dressed in his own clothes.

"Of course! You got them for me!" Gemma said from within her cubicle, currently sorting out her hairstyle as she looked her new outfit over, "I'm not getting rid of 'em!" Nathen chuckled, finishing packing them away and putting her other belongings away too.

Standing after he did so, he looked in one of the mirrors outside the cubicles and smoothed down the newly bought clothes, smoothing his new dark blue baggy jeans, running his finger along the black tribal patterns down both leg sides. He adjusted his black leather gloves, and tugged on his leather jacket, adjusting its sleeves which had blue ends, and its blue collar. Beneath this, he tugged down a black hoody a little, its collar high and its zip, diagonal from the centre of the collar to one arm, was left open to reveal the blue collar of the shirt beneath, white with grey following the buttons down. The leather jacket was short sleeved, with white wings on the back, and the hoody only three quarter sleeved with the shirt long sleeved. His silver chain still hung around his neck, and he still had his bag on.

"I'm ready!" Holly said, walking out of her changing room following the clicking noise of the lock. She twirled once, holding the ends of her white jacket, pulling them out a bit revealing the majority of her red and white stripped long sleeved t-shirt, all the top half to her black cargo pants and brown shoes, bag changed for a white one also, filled with all her old stuff. Her wrist bands had not changed, refusing to discard her precious gift, the same with her pendant.

"Nice," Nathen said, smiling.

"It's good of Bea to pay for us, she didn't have to," Holly said, giggling as she smoothed her clothes down.

"Yeah, but at least we don't have to waste what little money we have," Nathen said, picking Gemma's bag up as he waited for her to exit, hearing her door click. He focused his eyes on her as she stepped out, smiling widely at her.

"Whatcha think?" Gemma giggled, doing a playfully over exaggerated spin. She finished twisting her hair up into a low bun, and adjusted the black beanie on her head, pushing the same glasses she had had before up her nose. Her black skinny jeans had a white music stave up one leg, and her heavy black boots came up just over the bottom of them. She let her baggy white polo shirt fly out a bit, the hem at the bottom red, with a rose on the side of the shirt that stretched from the bottom to just below the arm, some on the back, front and side. Over this was a jacket like Nathen's, but without the blue additions, and with slightly differently designed white wings on the back.

"You look great Gem!" Nathen grinned, walking to her and hugging her, kissing her forehead making her blush, slipping her bag onto her back, "You look perfect."

"Ah shuddup!" She pouted. Nathen chuckled, then grabbing something from his pocket, he slipped two items around her wrists, "Huh?" Looking at them, Gemma saw two silver bracelets, made of interlocking hearts that wrapped around her wrists, covering her burns fairly well.

"They do the same as your wrists bands. I had them specially made of special silver to do it, had them a while, I was saving them for your birthday but this is a better time," Nathen smiled, adjusting them to fit perfectly, then slipping her Poké Dex back on her arm, "There. Complete."

"Heh, thanks," Gemma smiled shyly.

"What now you two?" Holly asked, "More training for Gemma, or something else?"

"Let's just explore, have some fun. Oh, and Gemma has to call her parents." Nathen suggested.

"Oh, right!" Gemma said, snapping her fingers, "Almost forgot!"

"Let's go do that first," Nathen chuckled, shaking his head.

~X~X~X~

**_(Pourvale Coast)_**

"You know we now have to backtrack to other contests if you want to get in as many as you can to get your ribbons, Arial," A young boy said, no older than thirteen. He sat on a fold out chair on a beach, watching a younger girl swimming in the water off the coast of the small town, thoroughly enjoying herself in the clear salt waters. He had to work a bit harder than normal to compose his sentence talking to the girl, finding it harder due to a budding attraction to the girl.

"I know, but I wanted to spend some time in the water here! It's supposed to be some of the best beaches in the region, and the world! I agree with that judgement too," the girl, Arial, said, giggling as she brushed her nearly white blonde hair from her face, two of the blue streaks in it escaping the main clump and dangling in her face, making her push them away, showing two triton shaped birth marks on her arms.

"I know, Arial."

"Michael lighten up!" Arial giggled, splashing at him, making him jump a bit, "We can head backwards tomorrow."

"Alright," Michael said, faking a small sigh, but really smiling. He brushed a hand through his shoulder length brunette hair, green eyes focused on a cooking pot where he was making the two some food, slipping his lab coat off and folding it up on the chair, revealing his black short sleeved shirt which he slightly undid in the heat of the beach, and rolled up dark blue pants. His shoes were removed, his large backpack and laptop bag placed beside him.

Arial giggled, dark blue eyes – too dark to be naturally human – closing as she dived under water, though she easily opened them and almost seemed to begin breathing under the water, smiling as she swam about with the abundant water Pokémon there, almost talking to them in her own way. The lengths of time she spent underwater would worry most, but Michael had come to learn that it was just part of who and what she was, and that unless it was a time that stretched over about ten to twenty minutes, she was fine.

Both of the pair had only recently started their journeys, but had began to get to know each other during the time since they had met in Budbloom, where Arial came in on a boat and Michael lived. Arial had a situation much similar to Holly, being adopted by her current family and coming to Monoko as her first region as a choice, a way to hunt down her history. Michael was an orphan, with no adopted family, who had lived in the small Budbloom orphanage ever since they died, and waiting until his thirteenth birthday to leave on his journey.

Who can tell what role even these two could have in the ever building tale and cast of this story?

~X~X~X~

**Okay! Finally, this damn thing is done! *phew* I can't believe how long this damn thing took, I need to get back on track! I had to do so much work on Monoko for this chapter, and just… Eep! TP is next, then SR, but I'll do this asap. Promise. **

**R&R!**


	6. Chapter 6

**And the rotation brings me back here now, woo! Time to get this thing started, and try get a chapter out at least once a month as I promised! My birthday is coming up in a few days, and I'm actually pretty excited! Sweet 16 time! And yes, my character has already hit 16, I know… but I am a year younger than my character for a few reasons. Ah, sweet 16 and never been kissed – the curse of an Anime Nerd, geeky author! XD **

**Chapter 6**

"Hey there mother!" Gemma said in a chipper voice as she dialled her parents' home on the Video Phone in the Pokémon centre, sitting on Nathen's lap whilst Holly made her own calls. After all, Nathen had no one else to call, unlike his two female companions. However that was a thought he tried not to dwell on.

"Hello Gemma dear, hello Nathen," Carol smiled from the other end of the line, waving a hand at the two with a sweet motherly smile, before her hand dropped to join her other one somewhere on her lap, "How've you three being doing so far? Where have you reached?"

"We're currently in Berrybud City, Holly's already had a gym battle but Nate has to wait until tomorrow," Gemma smiled, playing absentmindedly with Nathen's fingers as they rested on her sides with his arms wrapped around her, "They've been helping me train for my contests, too!"

"Lucky. How come the second battle has to wait though? It's still rather early in the day," Carol asked, head tilting slightly, "Bea should have plenty of time for another battle."

"The gym was in a bit of a state when we got there, and is in even more of a state now. She released her Vespiking, and it used Honey shot all over us. Hence, the new attire," Nathen answered, ignoring Gemma saying something along the lines of 'How do you know the gym leader's name?' and gesturing to the new clothing before playfully snatching Gemma's glasses. She whined and blindly reached out for them, hitting his arms, before Nathen just laughed at her and placed them back over her ears. He nuzzled into the back of her hair, wrapping his arms around her waist again and smiling softly, contently brushing a piece of stray hair back into her bun.

Carol smiled inwardly as she caught the movements, catching onto something that Gemma seemed to be completely oblivious to. Hidden from Gemma's eyes, Nathen's cheeks were tinted softly red as she squeezed his hands and whined playfully at him for messing with her glasses, leaning back against his chest. Carol trusted the boy already, and as long as his intentions stayed as pure as they were now she was happy Gemma had found someone she cared for so much, and who cared about her equally.

"Alright. So, how much longer will you be there in Berrybud?" Carol asked, smiling sweetly at the pair,

"A couple more days maybe." Nathen said, shrugging a little.

"Oo and I caught a new Pokémon!" Gemma said quickly, pulling her Poké Ball out and holding it up, "A Luvbug! I got it in the bug catching contest!" She grinned happily, displaying the Poké Ball proudly. Her mother smiled back.

"Well done kiddo," She said. Gemma whined.

"Heeeeeey! It's bad enough dad calling me kiddo!" She complained, putting her Poké Ball away as she crossed her arms, pouting and giving her mother a look. Carol laughed softly, waving and giving them luck, saying goodbye as she cut the call off.

"Time to head off to dinner and then back to the inn I think, it's getting late. We may as well spend the end of the day at the inn," Nathen said, standing up as Gemma hopped off his lap and turned around to face him, smiling as she nodded, before she suddenly squeaked loudly and buried herself back into his arms as thunder rumbled loudly in the sky, Nathen chuckling quietly as he held her close. He looked at the front windows of the Pokémon Centre, seeing the now bucketing rain smack against the windows and glass doors – the weather taking a sudden turn for the worst.

"The wind must be blowing in from Windtunnel Forest," Nurse Joy said as the young trainers stepped out of the phone booth and looked outside, Gemma jumping as she saw a flash of lightning, "I heard the Pourvale was in the middle of a big storm right now, so the wind probably blew that this way, maybe picked up the lightning from Skyvale's abundance of electricity. You'll want to be safe inside somewhere."

"Thanks Nurse Joy," Nathen said to the kind nurse as he stroked Gemma's head, looking down to her, "Gem, we need to get back to the inn. Put my coat on over yours too, and do both zips up, and both hoods up over your head. The rain is way too heavy to just run through."

"But then you'll get soaked!" Gemma objected immediately, looking up at him, pouting and looking more than a little worried. Nathen gave her a look as he pulled his jacket off and moved her arms to slip the larger jacket on over her own, doing up her zip and then the one on his coat as he pushed both hoods up over her head, covering her hair and face though her red eyes shone still.

"I don't care. I can't have you getting that wet, okay? I can manage. Come on, hand," Nathen said, holding his gloved hand out to her. Gemma pouted, but took a tight hold of it and locked her fingers with his as he took her to the door, and as they slid open he ran with her as fast as he could to get them back to the inn. Gemma struggled to keep up, but Nathen dragged her along behind him as he sped them through the heavy rain, the water hissing off his skin as it evaporated on touch – and his own hisses made these louder.

Holly was standing at the doors of the inn as they ran over, after having gone ahead before the phone call, expecting their return after the start of the storm. She beckoned them in, and as soon as they stepped inside the warm she wrapped a huge towel around Nathen and gave Gemma another as Nathen shook and hissed, Gemma pulling her coats off and drying off her face and any other exposed part of her body.

"Are you okay?!" Holly asked a little frantically as she watched Nathen dry himself off, still shaking as his skin hissed. Gemma looked panicked, checking every inch of exposed skin on her best friend over and over again, whimpering a little at the water burns that had formed – loads of splash marks that merged together. Nathen quietly whispered things to calm her as he got rid of as much water as he could before beginning to heal his own burns with his aura, the skin healing over perfectly.

"Yeah… water doesn't agree with fire types. Gemma's really susceptible to burns when she's hit by water like that, she can swim and shower if she heats the water around her or prepares herself, but rain is a painful affair." Nathen said, shaking his hair our and rubbing it dry.

"Same for you Mr!" Gemma protested, hugging him tightly, burying her head against his chest. Nathen sighed, kissing her hair as he rubbed her back and calmed her down, before scooping her up, "Hey!"

"Up to the room. I need a nice, hot shower. I'll run you a bath right after, Gem, so you can warm up. No protests."

"Fiiiiiine," Gemma said with a pout, poking his chest. Nathen chuckled a little, smiling as she buried more into his chest when thunder boomed in the sky again.

"Lucky I had my shower already," Holly said as she stuck her tongue out, walking up to the room ahead of Nathen and Gemma. Nathen chuckled softly, taking Gemma into the room and laying her on his bed as he took a spare pair of loose clothes through to the bathroom where he undressed and ran a boiling hot shower, the temperature they relaxed extremely well in.

"Waa… I dunno if I want a bath, I'd have to be alone for too long…" The youngest member of the group said with small whimpers as she curled up underneath her covers, cowering away from the storm. Nathen smiled softly to himself with a sigh, washing his hair and finishing the shower quickly after checking for any bad burns, dressing in the comfortable clothes and walking back out into the room, sitting by her on her bed and rubbing her head through the covers.

"I can hardly sit in there with you Gemma. You can wait 'til it's over if you really want to, but I want you to warm yourself up," The teen said, smiling gently at her as she peeped up from underneath the covers again, puppy dog eyes on full capacity. Nathen raised an eyebrow.

"Can't you just cuddle up with me?" She said, pouting playfully as she held her arms up. Holly burst into silent giggles as Nathen playfully gave her a look before hugging the girl tightly, then slipping under the covers with her, lying beside her holding her holding her close to him, warming her up with his internal heat as it joined hers to keep her cosy and warm her through.

"So, now what's the plan? Hold out here until the end of the storm?" Holly asked, suppressing her giggles at Gemma's clearly happy expression and snuggling.

"Yeah, that's the best course of action. After it's passed, which will hopefully be by morning, we can go out for breakfast again, train a little, and then get my battle over and done with. For now, we rest, talk and whatever else we can occupy ourselves with." Nathen said, shrugging a little, "I may end up asleep rather fast though. Storms tend to soothe me off to sleep."

"Weirdo." Gemma quipped, pouting. Nathen and Holly both laughed.

**_(Outside – 4:03pm)_**

Outside the window that looked into the room, which remained unobscured so that Nathen could watch the storm, a young girl hovered a whole story or more off of the ground, with a light blue outline just around the edges of her body. The rain continued pouring down, but she didn't seem to be wet at all, her light blue hair still in shape, her clothes still fitting normally without the tightening of water. She simply seemed to stand on the air, watching the group through the window into their room as they passed the hours talking, playing and occasionally bickering.

"Notes for report… Subject rooted into a group of another user of a strong aura, and a girl who's aura is easily open for manipulation… unusual aura coming from a charm around said girl's neck… names, Holly and Gemma. The youngest may be of importance to Existence. She seems very close to the subject." The girl recited to herself and a small recording device, before she turned the device off and sighed to herself, continuing her observation.

The youngest girl continued to snuggle against the boy and play around with him, play wrestling him several times throughout the time Maylu stood to watch. Nathen laughed with her, playing with her as well, stroking her hair, messing it up, tickling her and pinning her. The other girl joined in sometimes, but not to the same level. Maylu suppressed a clenching fist, stretching her fingers out and taking deep breaths.

"Am I… jealous? No. Stay focused. He'll be back with the team soon. I'll take him soon. I just need to gather enough understanding. I might even report the girl's location, or take her too. The more in favour I am, the less likely it is they'll hurt him or me, right?" The Ralts girl said to herself, musing it over in her mind as she tried to justify actions she knew would be wrong. "Oh Nathen… you knew you'd be chased and caught… why run away when it will simply result in more injury? You're littered with scars as it is…"

She sighed softly, sitting on thin air as she continued to watch the trio of friends. She had her reasons, and she would have to stick to them.

**_(Berrybud Gym – Housing Level Kitchen – 4:30pm)_**

"What on earth happened down there?" Annette asked, sipping a hot cup of coffee as she sat bundled in a thick blanket, her Pachirisu sitting on her head sipping from a tiny cup. Bea sighed, sitting down across from her friend, wrapped up in a thick cardigan with her curly hair let loose, a small Caterpie sat atop her head.

"Ma idiocy. Let out Vespiking when he wanted to be sleeping, and thus – he shot the gym with a huuuuuuge Honey Shot attack. Safe ta say, it didn't end well and that's why the ground floor is such a mess. I'm gonna clean it up later," The gym leader sighed, sipping her own hot drink as she sat opposite the blonde, vacationing ranger.

"Why did you do that?"

"Lost a battle."

"…Do you do that a lot?"

"…Maybe…"

"You're hopeless, you know that? Just as goofy as you used to be," Anne said, shaking her head with a soft smile as her partner Pokémon tittered on her head, sipping its little drink before tapping her head with it. Anne looked up at her Pokémon, giggling at her antics as she continued sipping her own drink, sticking her tongue out at Electra.

"Well, if this storm keeps up, I ain't gonna be needin' to clean out the gym – the rain water will flood it and do it for me! Geez, that stupid Pourvale and thair weather ruined a decent day!" Bea whined, dropping her head onto the table with a soft thud, gripping her hair.

"You can hardly blame Pourvale. They have to deal with this all the time. Didn't the weather report say it was because of Windtunnel Forest's winds anyway?" Anne asked, pulling the blanket more around her, "I'm more worried about the flying Pokémon migrating to warmer regions for the autumn/winter right about now."

"Pokémon Ranger attitude activate much?" The gym leader said, hitting her head off the table again, "Can ya catch some water Pokémon to help me in the gym?"

"Sorry, no can do pal. I'm not on duty and regulations don't allow the styler's use for personal means," The ranger chuckled. Her friend whined again, and hit her head repeatedly off the table once again. Electra made a few noises in her own language and then jumped off her owner's head, giving the other girl a small electric shock which made her squeak and jump from her seat. "Ha, Electra is saying you better get the work done now if you don't want to spend all night doing it."

"Help meh?" Bea begged, pouting at Annette and clasping her hands together. Shaking her head, Anne stood up and grabbed a thick cardigan to replace the blanket, finishing her drink.

"Come on then, messy."

**_(Pourvale – Coastal Inn – 5:12pm)_**

Arial walked into the Inn, soaked from head to toe and wearing only her bikini top and shorts under a thin coat, her pale blonde hair plastered to her face and back with the blue streaks covering half of her eyes. Almost as soon as she stepped in the door, Michael went to hug her before seemingly changing his mind as he just grabbed her shoulders and looked at her.

"Arial I was worried! It's been a good four hours before the storm started, the host wouldn't let me go out to look for you!" The brunette said, looking directly at the eleven year old as she stared back at him.

"Michael, I'm fine… I was swimming!" Arial said with a cheerful voice, smiling at her friend innocently as she took his hands of her shoulders and tapped him on the nose, smiling cheerily. If anything, Michael looked more worried.

"What?! In this weather? The seas must be really rough with all of the winds!" He said, sounding a little panicked, "You're eleven!"

"And I also have messed up DNA that means I can handle rough seas just as well as a water Pokémon, and you know it you silly researcher!" The implanted girl said, smile barely faltering as she spoke, shaking her hair out and spraying him with water. He had gone to open his mouth to speak again, but paused mid word as he got splashed and his view was obscured by water drops, "Come on, come up to my room with me and keep me company until the storm ends."

Michael watched after her blinking a few times as she walked through one of the downstairs corridors to get to the room she booked, confused by the girl - as the intelligent boy often was by girls. He may understand complex Pokémon, Plants and other things he has researched over the years, but girls still made him feel uneducated and like a mild form of idiot. Arial's weird traits and overly flirty behaviour made her the hardest girl to understand that he'd ever met in his life.

He followed her after a moment, and walked in as she pushed her long wet hair into a lazy ponytail to keep it out of the way, drying off quickly as she pulled on her long sleeved white t-shirt, smoothing it out and pulling a blue tank top on over it – all this over her bikini top. Michael's face went pale red and, despite how it wasn't actually as embarrassing as he felt it was, he looked away as her light blue pants were pulled on, with a decal like the ocean made of white silk. She didn't bother with shoes or anything else and simply hopped onto her bed with her Poké Balls. She let out two small mermaid Pokémon.

The first was a female version of Merbble, which had the same basic form as its male counterpart but with colouring and small other differences - Its tail is light, ice blue, with see through white fins that are shaped into curly, delicate shapes on the end, and around the top. The scales on its arms are the same light blue, and also have these fins. It hasn't got human ears, instead it has the same shapes as its fins for ears, but they are opaque and the same colour as its skin, which is extremely pale. It eyes are pink, and it has long flowing pink curls for hair.

The second was a Solace Pokémon, not familiar to Monoko – a Searen. It had a small female mermaid like form, its lower body is natural blue mermaid fish tail but with only one fin, upper body is a light blue cloaked in a mist like fabric, with long light blue hair, dark blue eyes, and small bracelets on her wrists with a triton design.

Michael's red didn't quite fade as he allowed himself to look now she was fully dressed, but he did smile as she filled a small tub with water from a water gun attack she shot from her hand. The two mermaids cheered happily, splashing about with each other. Arial joined in as best she could, and smiled happily as she did so, causing her older friend to smile more too. As she gestured to him to sit down, he slowly did so, and was soon splashed with water again as Arial giggled her head off.

**_(Pourvale Existence Base – Training Centre - 5:46pm)_**

Braylen floated in a deep training pool in the back of the specialised Existence base, which held the cover of the helpful business that it did all over the region, and the world. But the blue haired boy looked rather different whilst in the water – from the waist down, his body had been replaced by a dark blue tail with sharply shaped fins, with a semi-transparent black cape like layer from his waist to just above the end of the tail, wrapped around and kept down by a gold band of metal, which formed into a trident. His lower body had completely changed into that of a male Merquatic, and his eyes had become a lot darker and more sunken also, giving him an eerier look.

His tail moved back and forth slowly under the water as he floated peacefully, before jumping as he heard the door open. His eyes flicked quickly to the door, and a shimmer appeared as his legs prepared to reform, but sighing as a man stepped in the process stopped and he was left with his tail still intact.

"Mercer, I would like it if you actually announced yourself when you intend to enter this room when I am waiting for my sister." Braylen said, glaring at him as he swam over to the edge of the water, shifted to sit on the side with half of his tail still in the water, and looked up at the man.

He had to be at least 6'6", and his body was extremely muscled and currently covered in sweat all over his pale, smoky skin, no doubt having just come from a training session of his own. He brushed his smoky, shoulder length blonde hair up into a small ponytail with a thick, messy fringe. The ends looked like pale flames, and some strands did take light momentarily. He pulled his black pants up a bit, and had an orange jacket thrown over his shoulders, a black piece of material that appeared to be a cape draped over his arm. Each item of clothing had at least one sharp 'E' design.

"Well, Kidd, I feel no need to do so. I do not take orders from children," The man snarled, pulling his jacket on and tying the cap around his neck, shielding his body from view as he walked closer to the water and crouched down, his figure menacing even under the cape.

"I am not a child!" Braylen growled piercingly, claws growing from his nails. The man snickered.

"Yeah, you don't scare me little mermaid. You're like a tiny Finneon trying to fight a Boltark. Now, Kidd, I suggest you watch your mouth when talking to your seniors. Why you have been assigned to the mission you have, I do not know. She is my assignment, and I have been trying to get her back for two years. You do anything rash without my approval, and I kick your ass to hell and back."

"Ha, yeah right. I can kick your arse with type advantage alone. Besides, if you lost her then they clearly didn't ask you again because you failed the mission." The aquatic boy said with a smirk, before grunting hard as he was punched hard around the face by a heavy fist, knocking him back a couple of feet in the water.

"Watch. Your. Tongue!" The man snapped, standing up and glaring hard at him, muscles rippling through his jacket as his cape fell back instead of around him, "I did not fail, and have been told as such! The mission went well, but the scientists used too much DNA and the boost it gave her let her escape!"

"Something wrong?" A female voice said, making Braylen curse as he quickly changed his legs back to normal and swam up to the wall again, to hide his naked lower half.

A young girl, the same age as Braylen, walked into view behind the huge man – looking like a tiny child in comparison to his huge muscled form. Underneath a layer of shoulder length blonde hair was a piece of dark-green blue cloth, which fastened around her head under her hair, falling to just below her hair's tips – two pieces of hair flicked slightly away from her head near this, and by the sides of her face. Her eyes were light blue, which matched the light blue sleeveless shirt she wore, which in turn had a dark green blue tank top over it.

Her leg peeked out of her skirt, a long dark green-blue beach skirt which tied at one side of her waist and fell with a slit down to her ankles – also showing her shorts. The movement of her walking legs disturbed the light blue Poké Ball patterns on the skirt. She smiled a pretty little smile that stretched her pink cheeks, innocent and oblivious to what happened in the base she lived in.

"Brylee, hey. No, nothing's wrong dear," The man said, patting her head gently. She giggled, swatting his hand.

"Brett, you'll mess up my hair! Anyway, Bray, you ready?" She said, smiling cheerfully at her brother who just nodded.

"I just need to get changed. Brett, take her out to the front of the building and check the weather. Make sure she has everything needed – and that I have everything needed for my errands." Braylen said, brushing his blue hair with a stray hand, staying close to the wall.

"Fine," Brett said, tone sharp, but he didn't protest the near orders as he led the girl from the room. Braylen sighed after, getting out and dressed. His sister was oblivious and innocent, and he had no plans for her to ever be any different – but she was a good cover.

Slowly he walked from the room with his bag, getting focused on his mission. If the storm was bad they would have to hold out another hour or two, but if it was manageable now they could begin their walk.

Time to start the biggest mission of his life.

**_(Berrybud Gates – 7:02pm)_**

"This took… a-a lot longer than I-I thought it would…" Samuel said as he and Seira passed through the entrance to Berrybud City, the rain still beating down on them, Seira's wings used as a cover for the two of them as they passed through the dark streets trying to find a place to stay.

"Y-Yes… it did…" Seira said, huddling close to him as they searched the busy streets, realising that most inns were closed, full, out of their price range, etc. They continued to get soaked, despite the wings, as they passed through the streets which by now were deserted, only a few Pokémon running around, hovering over the gardens.

"Sorry Seira… I guess the route I-I took wasn't the best… dammit cold rain…" The boy coughed, blonde hair plastered to his head, just as was Seira's blue hair to her own head. He kept her close, with her being the most shielded by the wings – despite the fact she was part water type. He shivered, making her worry, as they kept on their trek through the city.

Lights began shining through the rain as it got darker and darker, artificial light taking over sunlight's task and lighting up the rain. Seira jumped at the sound of thunder followed by lightning, all of which was drawn to a tower in the next city. Samuel calmed her quietly, and seeing the light of the Pokémon Centre and Nurse Joy's hand waving them over. He told Seira, and they ran for the light, retreating into the dry of the centre.

"Thank you…" The centre was deserted, everyone in their rooms or the canteen. Both shook themselves dry, but Seira was reluctant to move her wings from their raised position, which could still be passed off as a costume or part of the bag.

"You have no need to hide your additions, dear. I'm a victim too," The Joy said with a gentle smile, forming a small Razor Leaf spiral in her hand, making both jump, "Come on, there's a room out back left. You two can take that. I'll bring you a warm cocoa soon, on the house."

"Swanna," Seira said briskly, but sincerely.

"Typhlosion," Samuel added, nodding a little and wrapping an arm around Seira.

"Petarose," Joy said softly, gesturing to her red hair – not pink like other nurses, "Now, come on you two."

They nodded, and smiling softly at her and each other they followed her out to the back room.

**_(Inn Room – 8:08pm)_**

"Sleepy wolf," Holly giggled quietly as Gemma struggled to keep her eyes open, even so early at night.

Gemma whined, nuzzling against Nathen's hold as she hid under the covers and fought not to fall asleep, determined to stay awake a while longer. Her crush smiled gently, nuzzling into her soft hair and stroking her back, humming an old song to her to try and lull her to sleep.

"Heeeeey! Traiiiiiiitor…! I don't wanna sleep, don't try and make me!" The young girl protested, hitting his chest softly, whining and trying to fight her closing eyes. Nathen laughed, grabbing her Embolf toy and putting it in her arms, which she automatically hugged tightly between them as she buried herself into his arms, and her eyes closed.

"Shhh… sleep my little wolf…" He said gently, nuzzling her head. Just as she went to sleep, a thunder clap shocked her awake again and both Holly and Nathen sighed. This was about the fifth time this happened.

"Th-thunder!"

"I know Gem… come on, nuzzle up and I'll keep you safe…"

Gemma nodded, and nuzzling more to him, the cycle began again.

~X~X~X~

**Woo, I got this up! …Yes, I think it's a bit later than planned, and it was a filler – but we learned some stuff and got little insights, plus two newish characters! Yay~! Well, I'm done for now, and tired after my convention yesterday, so this is going up nearly right before I sleep. Next up, SR!**

**R&R!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Here we go, I'm likely going to rush this a bit due to wanting to do some things but whatever, let's get this going! Battle chapter, oh joy, but I should be able to get some filler in too. Bloody battles…**

**Chapter 7**

It was around ten in the morning, but you wouldn't know it for the darkness that the heavy storm clouds projected over Berrybud City, rain still pouring heavily from the threatening sky as thunder and lightning broke through the repetitive pattern of splattering rain. Unlike when the group had arrived, no one fluttered around the town tending to the gardens today; only the odd person was seen covering delicate plants with tarpaulin, locking up greenhouses, or rushing Pokémon into homes.

Maylu had stopped her search, and was currently sat under a large leaf next to one of the garden greenhouses, her Ralts sitting on her lap, her Kirlia next to her. She sighed softly, leaning back, looking up at the storm clouds above her, watching the rain as it poured to the ground, occasionally catching it with her psychic abilities and making the water dance around in random patterns, splashing together making little explosions, the young Ralts in her lap watching entranced.

"Well well, Maylu the Ralts girl," A deep voice then said, causing Maylu to nearly shriek as a dark figure of a tall man hovered over the small girl, making her cower back further against the glass. The man stepped forward, rolling his violet eyes, shoulder length silver hair drenched flat despite what would usually be a spikier style. He crouched down, still towering over the girl, his large build showing clearly through his tight purple shirt and black, sleeveless hooded jacket that fell to his ankles.

"D-Dante?! Wh-What're you doing here?!" She said, hissing her words, clearly startled by the appearance of the man. He gave her an incredulous look, tapping the much younger girl on the nose.

"You should know why. I have information to pass onto Nathen. The more fitting question here is what are _you_ doing here, Maylu?" Dante asked, raising an eyebrow, "And not even in uniform."

"I'm… I'm on a mission…" She muttered uncomfortably, twirling a strand of her blue hair around her finger a little as she returned her Pokémon, standing up still holding the leaf over her head, until Dante pulled out an umbrella and handed it to her, which she murmured an even quieter thank you as she held it over her head and put the leaf down.

"Let me guess. You're here to bring back Nathen," Dante said, giving her a stern look as she nervously looked away, before sighing and dragging his hand down his face, rubbing his eyes, "Dammit, Maylu!"

"Y-You know I don't get a choice in these things!" Maylu stuttered, looking up at him. He had to be at least 6'.

"But you're going to go ahead and bring him back, aren't you? I know you don't get a choice in coming on the missions, but you can't fool me. You're being selfish, aren't you?" The man said, voice dull and serious, eyes burning into hers as they shone a little for just a moment.

"I-I am not!"

"Yes, Maylu. You are. Dammit, girl! Nathen planned his escape for nearly a year, down to the last damn detail! He wanted out, he wanted to get out of the world he'd be pulled into and go find some solace in the outside world and then find his family and get to live a relatively normal life. You know all this!" Dante snapped, making the girl jump, "And you want to bring him back because you have a crush on him?!"

"Y-You don't understand!" Maylu exclaimed, trying not to tear up and look pathetic in front of the large man, "They'll find him anyway! If I-I get him to come back willingly and pretend he was forced into leaving or something or other then maybe they won't hurt him that bad! I-I may even be able to bring in someone else as a bargaining chip or something so that there's just a little bigger of a chance he'll be let off easy!" She continued frantically.

"…That little girl he's with, huh? You sunk to that level? Maylu, if I were you I'd take a day out in the forest and think about this. This isn't the girl Nathen looked after. You're becoming just as bad as some of the little bitches back at the base. Don't let your life at TUA turn into what mine and Nathen's used to be," Dante sighed, "Now, I assume you know where he is. Care to direct me?"

"…He's in a battle… go wait in his inn room… I'll show you where to go…" Maylu whimpered. Dante nodded.

"You do that."

**_(Berrybud Gym – 10:45am)_**

"Darn it!" Nathen said as his first Pokémon fell to the floor, after already defeating Amorglide. The Pokémon's form similar to a Pidgeotto, the feathers dark with a natural flow, the tail feathers and the tips of the wings a natural black, the beak and the feet are a light grey, the belly feathers are dulled grey, there's a symbol on the wings that look like another pair of wings which is a dull green, "Well done Jevird. Good job," He continued, returning the bird Pokémon to his Poké Ball and grabbing another ball, bouncing it on his hand as his current opponent hissed at him.

"Vespiking stay ready!" Bea said, standing with knees slightly bent and legs out, hands in fists in front of her as she grinned at her Pokémon. It clearly was still not in a good mood, but Bea had claimed that letting him battle was the best way for him to calm back down.

Nathen bounced the ball a couple more times, considering whether it was a good choice due to how the gym was still slightly damp from both cleaning and a small flood from the storm, but decided to go ahead with it anyway as it was probably his best choice. He threw the ball, and yet another wolf type Pokémon came out.

Its size is similar to a grown Husky, its main fur a darker grey colour, eyes having a calm red feel which suddenly became aggressive as it realised it was in battle, its tail going through a transition from a normal tail to a burning flame for the same reason, it's underbelly is a darkening greyish red, the fur around its ear maintains a fire like form, and it had dark red fire around its ankles.

"Blazolf, time to battle!" Nathen called, catching the ball again and putting it away. Blazolf stood ready to battle, looking up at the hovering bug type, patting its paws on the ground testing the moisture, before it shot a blast of heat through the floor to evaporate the water, "Wow, well done there. Shoulda thought of that."

The Combee that controlled the flags in the previous battles did so again, dropping both flags to its sides and giving Nathen and Bea the cue to start the battle. Nathen started off with his first attack order.

"Start it off with Ember, and then go in with Blaze Tail!" The trainer ordered, Blazolf jumping into action and firing off the hot shots of fire toward the Bug type, who easily began avoiding them.

"Power Gem, Vespiking!" Bea commanded, pointing out. Vespiking held its hands together, forming an orange ball of energy just as Blazolf went to slam its flaming tail into the torso of the Beehive Pokémon, both attacks hitting at around the same time but the close range of the Power Gem attack meant that the damage was equalled to the super effective damage the Blaze Tail attack caused to the bug type.

Blazolf was thrown back to the floor, just about making itself land on all fours, skidding to a stop and glaring up at the Pokémon again, mouth flaming as it prepared its own attack ready. Nathen nodded to his Pokémon, and it let loose a Flamethrower attack which the opponent blocked only with its arms, before slamming back with an X-Scissor that Bea ordered quickly.

"Dodge it and go for Flame Charge!" Nathen said, Blazolf narrowly avoiding a direct hit from the attack, instead being grazed by one corner of the X as it ran at Vespiking and shot into the air a couple of metres to reach the Pokémon as it flew up and back to prepare another attack, slamming into him with his whole body on fire. Vespiking dropped a metre in the air, some burn marks visible on areas where the Pokémon was hit.

"Eep! Go for Honey Shot now!" The gym leader said, squeaking and jumping on the spot. Luckily for everyone in the room, Vespiking fired off a direct version of the messy attack and it only hit the battlefield, particularly the second form Solace starter – gluing it to the floor.

"Damn… Start heating up your body, and keep on the defensive, you can still use your mouth!" Nathen shouted, fisting his hands up.

"X-Scissor again!" Bea called out, her Pokémon slashing out two large X's in a row that slammed into Blazolf, making him cry out whilst he continued to heat up the honey to try and melt it away from its paws and body so he could move again. Eventually, there was a small sizzling noise as it melted away from the intense heat and slowly fell away from him, and he immediately went in with a Flame Fang attack.

"And turn that into Flamethrower!" Nathen ordered quickly, Blazolf biting onto the Vespiking and then turning the flaming fangs into a Flamethrower which scorched the whole of that half of its body, causing super effective damage that threw Vespiking back into a wall, "Blaze Tail, finish it!"

And with one more rough flick of its fiery tail, Vespiking was unconscious against the wall, and Combee raised the appropriate flag to show Nathen had won the round, and then that he had won the battle.

"Aw man! Well… well done kid," Bea said with a pout, returning her powerhouse and then grabbing something from her pocket, throwing it over at Nathen who caught it in an outstretched hand and then flicked it to look at it, smiling.

"Thanks Bea. Gem you can come grab me now, I can see you shaking from the storm still," He said gently, looking over to her and smiling as he held an arm out. The tiny girl quickly ran over and hugged his side tightly, burying her head into his jacket and sniffling, "Aw, c'mon my little wolf."

"Time to get going Nathen," Holly said, hopping up and holding out an umbrella to him, "No getting soaked for the fire types. You came in with enough burns last time."

"Right, thanks. Gemma, you're still taking my coat as well, alright? No protests," He said, kissing her hair. Her cheeks immediately flushed red, and she nodded, letting him drape the coat around her as she slipped her arms in.

"G-Good… good battle… Natey…" Gemma said, squeaking out the words through her shaking from the storm. He smiled gently, scooping her up and letting her clamber onto his back as he held the umbrella ready to open, "Thanks…"

"No need, and thank you Gem. Thanks Bea!" Nathen called, waving the badge around before slipping it into his pocket – he'd put it into his badge case later.

"No need! Good luck to ya'll with the rest of ya stuff, alright?" Bea said with a beam, curls bobbing in her three pigtails as she waved to the group. They waved back and headed for the door, just as Annette walked down from an extended lie in upstairs. She walked over to her friend, watching the group leave, "Oh hey pal, sleepy head today mucho?"

"Yeah, I guess so. Just done with challengers?" Annette asked, looking over to the door as the group left. In doing so, she caught a side glance of Holly's face, and froze for a moment.

"Yep, finished up with the group from yesterday. The boy kicked my Vespiking's ass!" Bea said, folding her arms over her chest. Annette nodded absentmindedly, but her eyes were stuck to Holly as she left in the rain, "You okay gal?"

"Y… Yeah, I'm fine. It's nothing. Come on, let's clean up again," She said, waving a hand dismissively.

**_(Inn – 11:50am)_**

"Dammit its pouring out there, we can't do anything with this amount of rain… damn being fire types," Nathen said, shaking his hair out and putting down his umbrella shoving it into his bag considering they'd no doubt need it again soon enough. He let Gemma down off his back, kissed her hair and smiled at her as she went red, tickling her nose with two fingers and then heating himself up to dry off. Gemma did it too, and both quickly taught Holly how to do the same trick so that they all evaporated the water off of them.

"One of the many disadvantages. Ah well, we can do cool tricks," Holly said, waving a dismissive hand and giggling, shoving her umbrella away too, "Up to the room! We can watch movies!"

"Yay!" Gemma giggled, hugging Nathen's arm, "Cuddles! Eep storm!" She jumped again at another shot of thunder and lightning. "It's getting closer!"

"You're safe here, don't worry," Nathen said, taking her hand in his and squeezing, "Come on, up to the room. You can break my arm hugging it if you have to."

They quickly make their way upstairs, ready to have some time in the comfort of a warm room where they could eat some of their supplies and watch some movies under covers and with the curtains closed to hide the storm, and as Nathen went to unlock the door they were all ready to go in and slump onto the beds. However, as soon as the door was open, they were greeted by the sight of Dante. Both girls jumped, and Nathen blinked for a moment before sighing.

"Oh thanks, thanks for the warning man!" The teen said in annoyance, closing his eyes and taking a breath, "Get out of there. Girls, go in and make yourselves comfy, pick a movie, get some food out, get into your PJs. I'll be back in ten minutes, tops." He pushed them inside as Dante exited the room, shut the door, and then lead him downstairs to the lobby, and then to a side corridor, "Bad timing."

"Sorry, but we did arrange this. I waited inside because of the storm, I tailed you there last night," Dante said, leaving out the detail that it was really Maylu who told him that Nathen was in the inn. Telling him about her would not be the best idea.

"Fine…" Nathen sighed, "Just be quick. I have two friends waiting."

"A friend and a girlfriend by the looks of it. Watch it kid, you don't want to leave too many broken hearts if something happens to you," The taller, more muscled man continued, giving him a look. Nathen's blue eyes glared into his violet ones, and he gave up, "Look, I'm just giving you the update we agreed on. TUA are still on the hunt for you, and their deal with TE is running just as strong as ever. No plans to stab them in the back as of yet, but that could change at any moment. Need any specific updates?"

"A guy named Brett. TE. Any notes on him?" The younger asked, arms crossed, leaning on a wall.

"Nada. Nout. Heard the name, but nothing notable has been said about him or I'd know. TE is rather hush hush right now, I'm not quite sure why. But it doesn't seem to be to do with backstabbing, if anything it may be to do with strengthening the bond to get something they want. Sorry dude, if you want TE intel, you need an inside man in TE. I can't help."

Nathen sighed again, "Fine… just keep finding out what you can, and give me a warning next time alright?"

"I saw how you were with that girl you know. Playing with her hair, cuddling her… watch out, Nathen. Alright? You're putting more than yourself in danger now," Dante said, tone serious again. Nathen glared once more.

"You think I don't know that? Me and her are just as much a risk to the other's safety; neither of us are going to split any time soon. We're staying together, she needs protecting and she's become a dear friend. Holly isn't going either, she's also an escapee, technically, so we're sticking together."

"Fine… just watch it. I'll let you go play happy now," The man said, rolling his eyes as he walked out of the centre. Nathen grunted, taking a deep breath and rubbing his head as he made his way back upstairs.

"Yeah yeah Dante… yeah yeah… I know all this I don't need to be told it again… let me have the fun of my freedom…" He muttered to himself, opening the door to the room a moment later and walking in, smiling softly seeing Holly laying on her front on the bed, and Gemma sitting up on the bottom bunk curled up with a pillow, her Embolf toy and a blanket. He grabbed his PJs, went to change, then came back and sat with Gemma after closing the curtains and turning off the lights. He wrapped them both up in blankets, and they sat watching as the first movie turned on.

They chatted and laughed as the movie went on, eating snacks and teasing each other about various bits and bobs of their lives, before or after the incidents they had all separately encountered with each team chasing them. They play fight and pillow fight, and end up laying on the floor in front of the TV – which eventually also got moved to the floor – in a line, blankets over them. Gemma stayed snuggled to Nathen's chest, Holly leaning against them both after a while. They stayed in all day, watching movies and chatting. Relaxing.

**_(Skyvale City – Lightning Rod Gym Tower - That Night)_**

"This is the worst storm we've had in ages… Pourvale can't be the only thing to blame for this…" A woman said with a sigh, looking out of the top floor of the tallest tower in the city, "The Lightning Rod is going to break at this rate… it's never dealt with this much…" The woman sighed, brushing a hand through bright blue, frizzy hair that stuck up everywhere like a pompom.

"What else could it be though, Ellie…?" Another voice said next to her.

"Well, the day of the Legends is coming up," Ellie said with a soft sigh, scratching her head, "I guess it could be that."

"I don't see why it would be…" The two faces, both female, were lit up by a strike of lightning that hit the rod on the top of the building, "It's never been like this before… right?"

"We can't know that for sure… this happens once every generation remember... it's also been happening since this region was formed by the legends… it could have happened like this in the past… maybe it means something bad is going to happen…" She ran her hands through her frizzy hair again, sighing, "I don't know. But I don't like it at all."

~X~X~X~

**WHAT IS THIS FUCKING MADNESS?! ANOTHER STORY CHAPTER LIKE THREE DAYS AFTER THE LAST?! What is this fuckery?! …Now people, imagine how fast this shit could get if I had more reviews again… pwease? Jus' saying. **

**Anyway, yay! Dante explained, random movie night, and next gym leader randomly~! …Also very little Gem, that's unusual. This is like a Nathen centric chapter, huh. Heh.**

**SR UP NEXT!**

**R&R!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Back again! I'm so sorry this took so damn long… I've been really busy, I keep getting distracted, or something happens that makes me lose motivation to do anything at all. It's been a rough few months, and my writing time has suffered – I'm so sorry, I really want to get back on track.**

**Chapter 8**

Nathen was first to wake up the next morning, finding they were all still laid on the floor under their vast collection of inn-supplied and personal blankets, atop the similar collection of pillows. The TV was playing the same movie title page over and over again, the music upbeat and mildly irritating after the second or third time it played. The picture was bright, and it hurt his eyes as he sat up; at least, he tried to. Gemma lay beside him, clinging onto his arm and nuzzling him contently, making him smile.

The third thing he noticed was that the storm had passed over, for now at least. He could see dark clouds in the sky, too dark considering how much rain they had let out over the past twenty four hours, minimum. He was beginning to wonder if this storm was natural, and tried to turn the facts over in his head as he reached and turned the television off so the music could no longer pester his eardrums. With the music gone all he could hear was the soft breathing of the girls he laid besides and the soft echo of the chatter of the people outside the inn's window - the day had started, the town was buzzing (literally).

"Nateee...~?" Gemma whined softly, becoming semi-conscious as the boy's movement jostled her. He smiled softly, gently moving his arm from her grasp and ruffling her hair instead, making her whine more as she groggily opened her eyes. She flickered her eyelids up and down as she made efforts to fully wake up. "What tiiiiiime is it...?"

"It's about 12, Gem," Nathen chuckled, yawning once more himself as he stood up. Gemma whined yet again, holding her arms up to him and making grabby hands, pouting with her eyes half open.

"Gimme."

"Give you what?"

"Huggles."

"God you're cute." He knelt down, hugging her tightly around her waist, kissing her hair as she happily nuzzled against him, making a soft noise that sounded somewhat like a content dog getting a scratch. "I need to get dressed though Gem, we need to get moving up to Beebud town for your first contest by the end of the day, so you can register."

"I dun't wanna get dressed. Comfy." It was now the both of them realised that Gemma had taken one of his large t-shirts at some point during the night before - probably because she spilt ice-cream down her own nightshirt, which was sitting over the radiator after being washed in the bathroom sink. Both turned a little red, but nothing else was said before Holly's yawn broke the silence.

"Morning all," She greeted drowsily, shaking her long hair out as she stood up, "You getting changed in the bathroom Nathen?"

"Yeah, that's what I was about to do," Nathen nodded, ruffling Gemma's hair and causing her to pout again as he stood back up, grabbing his bag and heading to the bathroom, "Get dressed yourselves, girls. Knock the door when you're decent."

"Will do!" Gemma said happily, waking up now as she also forgot the momentary awkwardness of their private realisation. She bounced up to her feet, grabbing her clothing and promptly hiding under one of the many blankets whilst sitting on a bed to change her underclothes. Holly giggled, standing up and changing quickly.

Everyone was dressed within ten minutes and it only took about five to clean up their stuff and head out of their room. Nathen paid the inn landlord on their way out, leaving them with just enough of their allotted 'Berrybud City' money for breakfast (or would it be classed as lunch now?) of some kind, and to put a little money into their reserves. Gemma asked if they could go back to the pie place they went to the night before last, and despite both making comments about how it was hardly an appropriate Breakfast or even Lunch they agreed to it and headed straight for the cafe that sold them. They ate happily, sharing little pieces again, though Gemma was careful to avoid the spicy berry that Nathen had. Within another half hour they were on their way toward the city's exit.

"The path we have to head up to get to Beebud is called Cocoon Path, it's said to have at least one of every cocoon Pokémon in the world," Gemma explained, beaming as her explanation cut off Nathen before he even began to say his – read from the guide book he was holding, "If you need information on Monoko look to me, not the book," She stuck her tongue out as she said this. He chuckled lightly.

"I'll bear that in mind. So, every cocoon?" He replied. She smiled, nodding.

"Every single one has been documented at least once."

"That's a lot of bug types!" Holly said, looking at the two of them, "Like, loads of creepy crawly bug types."

"Shh, you'll hurt Maeve's feelings," Gemma teased, giggling, tapping her Luvbug's Poké Ball. Holly giggled, lightly hitting her friend's shoulder as they continued to walk. "Besides, it's not like they've very 'crawly' – they can barely move!" Gemma continued, grinning from ear to ear and continuing her teasing tone, resulting in Holly giving her a playful glare.

"Oh shush!"

"Either way," Nathen interjected with a chuckle, "It's not a long path, so we'll be able to get to Beebud before the end of the day – enough time to explore a little, find somewhere to stay, eat, the basics."

"And register for the contest!"

"That too," The boy smiled, ruffling her hair and making her pout at him, "We better do that first so we don't forget. Plus going to the Pokémon Centre is a good move anyway."

"Yay my first contest!" Gemma grinned, sticking her tongue out, "Holly, you doing this one too or are you gonna do later ones?" Holly put on a thinking face, tilting her head to the side.

"Um, I don't think so this time. As I'm only gonna do it part time I think I'll wait, if I get all the ribbons I need for the festival it'll be nice but it's not a big aim of mine," She answered, shrugging her shoulders and adjusting her bag as it became misplaced.

"Alright then, that's our aims for this town set out: The contest. Now just to get there; I see the path's start just up ahead, it should be about an hour's walk from there. Provided nothing else happens," Nathen said, jumping moments later as Gemma reached up and covered his mouth.

"Shhh! Don't say that you'll jinx it!" She exclaimed, half giggling as she jumped up onto his back again, making him grunt as he quickly moved his bag so she didn't get uncomfortable, "Woo! Heh, I love how you're so used to me doing this that you don't even question it."

"It's just one of the many things I've grown to like about you, cheeky," Nathen smiled, chuckling lightly and shaking his head with a playfully exaggerated sigh, holding her legs to support her. Gemma giggled, nuzzling the side of his head.

"We both know you love me really."

Cue the awkward silence.

Holly quickly took it upon herself to break the silence, pointing up ahead, "Look! Cocoons already!"

Both friends quickly looked up ahead of them also, spotting a pair of Hoenn cocoon Pokémon bouncing across the path a few metres ahead of them; Silcoon and Cascoon. They watched them for a moment, Gemma giggling.

"They look really silly, I don't know how they even bounce around like that," She grinned, nudging Nathen's side with her knee, "Goo! Let's keep moving!"

"I'm going I'm going," Nathen said, rolling his eyes chuckling and starting their walk again, Holly not far behind them as she mocked a sigh of relief to herself at ending the awkward moment – that she knew shouldn't have been so awkward. "Anyone going to keep a mental list of how many of the cocoons we see?"

"I will," Holly chuckled, grinning as she looked around, "Just to check if there really is one of every type, right?"

"Yep," Nathen replied, shifting Gemma up his back more. "Let's see if this path is all it's cracked up to be Pokémon wise." Gemma's legs wrapped tighter around her best friend, keeping her up without him having to shift her again, helped by her arms doing the same.

"Cocoon counting and then contest," She beamed, squeezing tighter for a moment, "Yay adventures!"

"I'm trying to figure out if that was sarcastic or not…" Holly said, giggling as she walked a few steps ahead of her two new friends, looking around her as she went, there being no sign of any other cocoons thus far.

They continued to walk, idly chatting to each other as Holly kept count of the cocoons that either she saw herself or the other two pointed out to her, listing them off whenever there was a new one. So far they'd seen: Silcoon and Cascoon; Metapod; Two types of Wormadam; and Swadloon and Whirlipede.

"Oo look! That looks like our Luvbug!" Gemma exclaimed, pointing at a Pokémon that was just off to the side of the path ahead of them. It was an upside down heart kind of shaped cocoon, pink in colour and with a deeper pink shaped face; trailing down each side were white dots, whilst on its back end it had a deeper pink stub, shaped like a heart. The Pokémon looked up, smiled and let out a small coo of 'luv' before hopping toward the group, nuzzling against Holly and Nathen's legs, "Aw, cute!"

"I'll grab my Pokédex," Nathen said, digging into his pocket and pulling the device out, aiming the camera at the Pokémon at their feet. It whirred for a moment and then spoke:

**_Lucoon, the Love Cocoon Pokémon, and the evolved form of Luvbug. Lucoon are most looked after by their parents during their time as a cocoon Pokémon, and thus many more of these Cocoons get to their next form._**

"Oo! So, where are its parents then?" Gemma asked, looking around, "I haven't seen any fully grown bug Pokémon around her yet."

"Maybe they're in the forest or something, or it's one of the few that aren't looked after by its parents," Holly suggested, looking around, "There's other Monoko cocoons here too I think, scan the ones over there Nathen."

The first one Nathen raised the Pokédex to had a rather rounded shape, with a flattened base. It's dull, dark purple in colour with a black sharp shape around its face, eyes red and mouth in a permanent frown. It appeared to have slight circular indents all over its main body, which suddenly burst out into spikes when another identical Pokémon knocked into it unexpectedly, the majority of said spikes being black though there were a few red and one or two purple. Finally on the lower centre of its back it had a stinger, which on this Pokémon was red – but on the one that had knocked into it, black.

**_Chrystility, the Hostile Cocoon Pokémon, and the evolved form of Irritillar. Chrystility are not guarded by their parents as other cocoon Pokémon are, and have their spikes as a defence mechanism, protecting them from attacking Pokémon._**

The second Pokémon was a simple rounded cocoon, hanging from a tree branch by a String Shot like substance, though another nearby was plopped on the floor with its bottom flattened out by the contact. It had a simple rounded face, white, with a main green body spare two black streaks down the sides, and one white streak down the back, leading to a small black stub; its eyes were a bright yellow, but looked completely lazy and unbothered.

**_Simpligroth, the Simple Cocoon Pokémon, and the evolved form of Naturillar. This Pokémon now has an excuse to do even less, and is thus more protected by its parents during its time as a cocoon, though the parents still leave them alone for periods of time._**

"So those three are the Monoko cocoon Pokémon then, does Pokoh have any cocoon Pokémon?" Holly asked, kneeling down and petting the Lucoon as it let out more 'luuu' noises.

"Hm… I don't think so, actually… which is odd, almost all regions have them," Nathen chuckled, shifting Gemma again and carefully stepping over the cocoons at their feet so that he didn't hurt any of them, walking ahead a few more steps after also, "Uff, Gemma, I can't carry you any further for now."

"Aww! Fiiiiiine," Gemma said playfully, jumping down off his back and adjusting her bag. Nathen fixed his bag again and then took her hand instead, making her smile as Holly joined them again.

"So now there's just Kakuna, that I know of," Holly said, "If it's every region there may be Pokémon we don't know."

Sure enough as they continued to head up the path they saw Pokémon that their Dexes could not identify – they didn't have the right update to their databanks, so they must be from a region they had not been to or that wasn't as well-known as places such as Kanto, Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh that were included on almost every Pokédex now. After a while they did spot some Kakuna, surrounded by Beedrill which had so far been the only fully evolved Pokémon on the route, which they quickly walked past so as not to annoy the irritable bees.

When they were safely away from the bees and starting to near the end of the path, Gemma began playing around, messing with the two and playing a few chasing games to pass the time when she suddenly felt really warm, even for her. She stumbled, making her friends jump and Nathen reach to catch her, though she managed to steady herself in the end. This, however, wasn't the end of it; without warning and without intending to Gemma suddenly shot off two fire attacks from her hands – small, but still big enough – which slammed into two trees.

Neither tree suffered any major damage, nothing on either seemed to have caught on fire, but something wasn't happy. From what must have been a nest underneath the trunk of one of the trees two of the Pokémon they had seen in Budbloom flew up – Spitreeze and Amorglide. The Spitreeze was clearly angry, buzzing its name in a harsh tone with its wings going at high speeds creating a horrid noise. The sharp stingers on the ends of its arms sharpened and glinted, and it was looking right at the group. It's stinger was red.

"Oh crap! Holly, grab Gemma and jump up he's coming at us!" Nathen exclaimed, charging up fire around his wrists as Holly jumped but nodded, grabbing onto Gemma's arm and holding tight.

"Gemma, hug me, Blaziken jump heights are scary as heck so just hold on tight," Holly said, holding her friend close as she did the same, bending her knees and then jumping just a little higher than the trees, making Gemma squeak. Nathen watched, about to attack the Spitreeze to stop any of them being hit by the Pokémon's poison type attacks when suddenly Spitreeze shot at the girls, knocking them hard and throwing them into the forest.

"Girls! Oh crap!" Nathen cursed, looking up at Spitreeze. The Pokémon hissed, aiming an attack at Nathen now. Nathen gritted his teeth, charging up the fire into balls around his hands and waiting, raising his hands as the Pokémon flew at him at high speed. He was still knocked back, but it wasn't anywhere near as far as the girls and this time Spitreeze had also sustained damage. "Ow… argh… my back…" The teen grunted, sitting up and arching backwards to click his back, glancing at Spitreeze who now appeared to be bother getting tended to by and being given a stern talking to by the Amorglide.

Where the nest had been located he could see the bushes rustling as a group of Luvbug and Lucoon hopped and crawled out of their home, looking up at the two adult Pokémon and nuzzling each other. It was then Nathen realised.

"So that Spitreeze and Amorglide are mates… it thought Gemma was purposely attacking it's family… odd, Spitreeze aren't meant to care about family… guess there's always the exception to the rule…" He muttered to himself, standing up, holding his hands up as a sign of surrender or peace when the Spitreeze glared, "My friend didn't mean to nearly hit your nest, she lost control for a moment – we didn't even know your nest was there!"

The Amorglide cooed at Nathen, then nudged her mate back to their nest. Whilst Nathen was relieved at the fact he was no longer under attack, he was focused on the fact his two friends had been knocked into the forest from a height, and could not only be anywhere but also be hurt.

"Damn I really did jinx it…"

~X~X~X~

**Okay I'm sorry this is kinda short compared to normal, and it's also late, but I'm going on holiday for a week tomorrow so I won't have much time to write, and thus I really wanted to get a chapter up now I had an idea for what to do. So, here it is! :D I'm going to try keep on track now, promise! *let's watch this fail***

**R&R!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Okay, I AM SO SORRY. I have been ****_so out of it_****, I know it's nearly been a year. Hell it could have been. But I've been going through a lot of stuff, surrounding school, anxiety issues, and other stuff including the writing of my own book. I really want to get back into the flow of things with these stories, but it's hard, I'm trying my best. I swear. I know where I want to go with them it's just getting there.**

**Again I'm so so sorry to anyone who gives a shit!**

**Chapter 9**

"Ow…" Gemma groaned, sitting up as she came to an unknown amount of time after the incident with the Spitreeze. Holly was stirring a little laying down beside her, groaning just the same as parts of her body throbbed from landing on the hard floor when they came to a stop. "Hol…?"

"Ow… what hit me…?" Holly grunted, forcing herself to sit up and stretch out, body aching all over.

"The floor, I think… yep, the floor… owie…" Gemma patted the ground around her, finding her glasses that had fallen off sometime during their fall, and then getting up shakily as she looked around. "Oh man, now where are we? We got thrown through the air I have no idea where we are without anything other than _trees_…!"

"Calm down, Gemma, we can't have been thrown far…" Holly said, pulling herself up to her feet and looking around, stretching out her legs and clicking the joints in her arms. "I'll hop up a tree and look around; there'll be a sign of where we are somewhere. Want to come up with me to spot things?"

"Heck no!"

"Suit yourself," Holly said, jumping up suddenly and grabbing onto a branch, throwing herself up similar over several other branches to head towards the top of the tree she had chosen. Gemma watched, gulping lightly imagining being so high up, before focusing her eyes on the floor again. Holly herself soon reached the top of the tree, hanging onto the branch and looking around to try and get a gage on where they were.

"Can you see anything?"

"Yell louder dumbass I'm at the top of a tree!"

"Can you see anything?!"

"No! Just trees! I can see where we just came from I guess, it's to the south of us but god knows if that's actually south or not! For all I know we could have been thrown back to the forest on the other side of the damn city!" Holly called back down, looking around once more, "I can see the huge city, but you can see that wherever you are so that isn't any help!"

"Aw man…" Gemma sighed, stepping back a little as she heard Holly get ready to jump back down to her level. She still jumped when her friend landed strongly on the ground, still on her two feet. "How do you do that?"

"How do you shoot fire out of your hands? Duh," Holly replied, standing up straight and stretching her legs out a little bit, "Ow. Still hurts, even if I can make the landing. Anyway, now what do we do? We have no idea where to go to get back to Cocoon Path; we're pretty much stranded in the middle of the forest."

"Great. Just great. Stuck out here in the middle of a forest with god knows how many Existence agents! They're always in the forests; they got me in a forest!" Gemma said, voice becoming panicked as she began to wring her hands around her wrists, twisting her new bracelets around. Holly sighed softly, grabbing her friend's arms and pulling them apart so her hands couldn't reach the opposite wrists.

"Gemma. Stop. I know you probably have some form of PTSD or something, but for now just calm down, okay? Nathen may not be here but I am. I know he's your safety net but we'll get back to him soon enough okay?" Holly said, gripping her arms tighter and looking the shorter girl in the eye. Gemma sniffled a little, reluctantly nodding at her new friend. Holly gave her a soft smile, patting her on the shoulder and giving her a quick hug. The other girl returned the hug, taking a deep breath.

"Alright…"

"Okay then. Now, we need to decide how we're going to find him."

Gemma just nodded.

~X~X~X~

**_(Berrybud City)_**

Nathen had managed to run back to Berrybud city in less than half the time it had taken them to walk up to where they had on Cocoon Path. He wasn't quite sure who he was going to look for, or if anyone would even be able to help at all, but he wasn't going to sit by and not even try. So he headed straight for the Pokémon Centre and ran inside, right up to the front desk.

"My… my friends… a Spitreeze… attacked us and shot them through the damn sky to somewhere… in the forest…" Nathen panted out, leaning against the front desk. He wasn't tired out, not at all; that run had barely had an effect on him, his DNA made sure of that, but he could hardly let everyone see that he wasn't even slightly out of breath.

"What?" Nurse Joy turned to face him, "Wait, was it by the Spitreeze with the Amorglide up on Cocoon Path?" Nathen straightened up immediately at this, his breathless act going as he nodded quickly and spoke again.

"Yes, that one! All I know is they went somewhere off to the east, but it's all forest out that way for a long way, right? So they'll be lost… if they… y'know… didn't die from the landing or attack…" He flinched at his own words, taking a deep breath as he stood up straight. The red haired nurse raised an eyebrow at him, noticing the dropped act immediately.

"Alright, I can try and organise a search of some sort but the police have been pretty occupied around here recently, there's been a spate of kidnappings and attempting kidnappings so their attention has been on that…" The Joy continued, tapping on her keyboard and looking at the screen, "There might be some people free though… but we'd have to wait."

Nathen had become alarmed the moment that Joy had mentioned the kidnappings, even without knowing who was being taken or how he knew that it would almost certainly match the MO of Team Existence. Taking into account their encounter with the Frosleo member in the woods on only their first day travelling it seemed more than likely that Existence was behind any kidnappings in the area.

"I don't think that's going to cut it…" He said, sighing as he leant onto his arms on the desk, grunting. "God dammit this is just our luck…' he began to mutter, 'if Existence gets to them before I do and they're injured or something… I… dammit…"

Nurse Joy's interest immediately peaked, her senses naturally heightened by her Pokémon DNA and making her able to hear him. The way he was talking paired with his obvious act after his run were enough for him, and she coughed lightly to grab his attention. When the boy looked up the Nurse Joy was spinning petals around her lower arm, and looking him in the eye. That was when the colour of her hair and eyes clicked with him.

"Oh… Oh…!"

"I can't do much else than I've said already, but I take it that your two friends are like this also?" Joy asked, watching Nathen stand up straight again and rub the top of his hands through his shirt. He nodded at her question, staring at the petals as they slowly died down. "You're so young…" She sighed to herself, Nathen staying silent, unsure if that was meant to warrant a response or not.

Nathen eventually went to open his mouth to speak, but Joy beat him to it, "There's another pair here, like us. They're staying in the room out back; one of them has wings… maybe they can help? They've been sleeping most of the day, they got here late last night, but they might help if they know it's another victim…"

"If they would, I'd be grateful… one of my friends is really nervous when alone, and even though she's with my other friend we're still getting to know her so she might still be having an episode…" Nathen said, muttering a little as he rubbed his hands more. Nurse Joy reached over and grabbed his arms, stopping his tick, and looking at him.

"I'll do all I can to help, don't worry. Go take a seat, I'll go see if they're awake yet," She said, smiling gently. Nathen nodded, taking a breath to compose himself and then going to sit down in the waiting area of the centre as Joy went out back. He rested his head on his hands, taking a few more deep breaths and inwardly praying that they would agree to help him.

Out back, Nurse Joy found that Samuel was awake but Seira was still resting, her wings wrapped completely around herself so that she was hidden beneath their white feathers from the chest up, everything else simply covered by a blanket. She squirmed around in her sleep whilst Samuel looked up at Nurse Joy and tilted his head a little.

"What is it Joy?"

"Another person like us just turned up in the centre, his friends have been blown away into the forest by a Spitreeze attack. They're also the same as us, and… _they_ are out in the woods, or I think they are. There's been many kidnappings or attempted kidnappings lately." Joy replied, resting one hand on her hip.

"And you're telling us why?"

"He needs help, but I can't contact the police they're too busy with the actual kidnappings. They're out there alone, and with _them_ around…" She trailed off a little, clasping her hands in front of her and looking at the boy. He rubbed his head, leaning forward on his other arm. Sighing lightly, he looked to his friend and then back to Joy.

"I'll have to ask Seira, but I guess there'd be no harm in helping as long as they don't expect us to hang around if _they_ _are_ actually directly involved." Samuel replied, rubbing his head again and sitting up properly. "I'm not going to wake her up yet though. She needs rest."

"Alright, I'm sure he'll understand that. Come and tell me when you decide, I'll do what I can with him now." Nurse Joy said, nodding politely and stepping back out of the room silently. Samuel took a deep breath, laying on his bed again and looking over at his female friend, still wrapped up in her wings. He smiled softly.

When Joy walked back out Nathen looked up at her expectantly, whilst she smiled lightly and walked over to where he had sat himself down. She sat on a chair two spots away from him and looked him in the face.

"One of them is still sleeping, the boy – Samuel – he said that he would ask her if she wants to help. He's fine with it, from what I can tell, but he wants to make sure she is too. He doesn't want to push her to be involved if Existence really are involved in this." She said, clasping her hands on her lap. Nathen sighed softly, but nodded, leaning back in the chair and draping one arm lazily over his lap, the other raising so he could lightly rub his head.

"I guess I can understand that… I'd be sceptical too… I wouldn't make Gemma go through something she wasn't comfortable with… I just hope his friend wakes up soon, I don't know how long they'll be okay out there for…" The boy said. Joy simply gave him a nod, standing back up and lightly placing her hand on his arm before heading back to her desk to continue with her duties until the winged girl woke up.

~X~X~X~

**_(Forest – Unknown)_**

Gemma and Holly had begun to wander around aimlessly a little over a half hour ago, having given up on their initial idea of waiting it out until Nathen figured out how to them. Neither was totally sure why wandering around randomly with no aim or idea of where they were going was any better an idea, but it was something to do. Gemma was clinging to Holly's arm like a vice and Holly was doing her best to keep her calm by letting her, but both were on edge by now as they didn't know what else they could do.

"I don't like this… I swear we've seen that tree before…" Gemma muttered, fingernails starting to dig into Holly's arm. Holly sighed softly, rubbing her hand and looking at her as they continued to walk.

"All the trees look the same. It doesn't make us any less lost, but I don't think we're going in circles. We've been walking dead straight." She said, continuing to walk whilst making sure her friend kept up with her pace. Gemma only nodded at her, clinging to her tighter and looking around as they walked. "Get out a Pokémon if you want to feel safer."

"Nathen had my Poké Balls…"

"Great. Alright, c'mon. I'll carry you. You're gonna start freaking out if I keep making you walk, huh?" Holly said, prying Gemma's hand away from her arm and crouching. Gemma looked sceptical, gripping her own wrists. "I have Blaziken DNA, I'm no weakling. Get on." Pouting Gemma struggled her way up onto Holly's back, wrapping her legs around her as Holly wrapped her arms under them, the smaller girl's arms draping over Holly's shoulders. "There. Told you," Holly added as she stood up straight. Gemma stuck her tongue out at her, making her giggle.

"What if we're just walking into an eternal forest?"

Holly sighed, looking back at her and giving her a look, hoisting her up more, "Is there an eternal forest in Monoko?"

"No, but…"

"Look if you don't stop worrying about this I swear I'm going to tickle you," Holly threatened, looking at her again with a sterner look. Gemma pouted.

"You wouldn't."

"You wanna bet?"

"But…"

"Oh that is it!" Holly grinned, tickling her friend behind her knees as she held her up on her back. Gemma squealed, kicking out with her lower legs, laughing hard, "Told ya!"

"Stoooop! Holly!" Gemma squealed, giggling and kicking out more, "Stop it stop it! Too ticklish stop it!"

"Then stop being negative!"

"Fine fine fine fine fine just stop tickling!" She squealed louder, kicking out harder. Holly grinned wider, stopping her tickling and hoisting the girl up more after the tickling and squirming had caused her to slip down a bit. "You're a meanie."

"Love how I'm a meanie for it but it makes Nathen cute," Holly said, starting to walk again, keeping a tight hold on Gemma's legs. The girl went deep red, smacking Holly's shoulder.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" She squeaked, making Holly laugh at her, looking back at her, giving her a look, "What?!"

"You know what I mean."

"I do not! I take offense at that!" Gemma retorted, pouting. Holly giggled more, shifting her up higher on her back.

"You take offense at me thinking you're smart enough to know what I mean?"

"Wait, what? Uh, no, I… crap," Gemma whined, slumping. Holly grinned, shaking her head. "It is cute when Nathen does it though, he's being playful you were torturing me!"

"And the evidence mounts!"

"What evidence?!"

"Oh you are so oblivious."

~X~X~X~

**_(Berrybud City – Pokémon Centre)_**

When Seira eventually woke up she unwrapped her wings from around herself, sitting up. Yawning she stretched out, her wings reflexively pushing out as well, knocking into the walls making her wince. She looked over at Sam, who smiled back at her and sat up more, shifting forward.

"Morning swan."

"Morning… are we moving out today…?" She sat up with her legs off the bed, picking clothes up from her case under the bed. Samuel shrugged, leaning back on his hands.

"Maybe. Joy came in whilst you were still sleeping, there's someone who's friends have gone missing. Asked if we'd help, they're out in the forest and they're worried they'll get taken by… well, them, whilst out there." He said. Seira tilted her head curiously, "Somewhere up on the way to the next town. We wouldn't be going too far out of our way, I suppose. But it's up to you."

"What can we do to help…?" Seira asked, standing up and going to the en-suite bathroom to get changed, closing the door behind her leaving only just enough a crack to hear what Samuel was saying.

"Well, you can fly… and three sets of legs is better than one… Apparently the police are busy looking for other missing people, so there's no one else to help. They're not forcing us, at all, but I said I'd ask." He could hear her getting changed, marked by the noises she let out when she hit something with her wings, small grunts and other similar sounds. He heard her sigh softly also, over the sound of ruffling material, before she stepped back out fully dressed.

"So basically they want an overhead search and then a foot search?"

Samuel nodded in response, standing up and grabbing some of his things to shove in his bag, tossing Seira some of her things and then looking to her as she put them away without looking, looking back at him.

"Well… I suppose. But if it looks like it's getting dangerous, we leave? Right? Promise?" The girl said, picking up her bag. Sam smiled, nodding.

"'Course. I'm not gonna let us get involved in something dangerous." He said, smiling at her gently. Seira sighed a little again, but after a moment of silence she nodded.

"You can tell them we'll help, on the condition that if _they_ are involved we can leave." She said, pulling her bag onto her back. Sam smiled a bit more, standing up and stretching out.

"Alright Swan, I'll go tell em. If you wanna go ahead and get food before we head out then go ahead, we'll wait." He said, heading towards the door, holding his own bag. Seira nodded, following him out of the door but taking a turning towards the cafeteria instead of the lobby where Same headed.

Sam walked straight through into the lobby, seeing the blue haired boy immediately raise his head as if hearing his light footsteps over the noise of everyone who was in the lobby, or even his thoughts. The latter really wouldn't surprise him; after all, his best friend had wings. Who knew what else these implants could give people or allow them to do?

He awkwardly raised a hand in a wave-like gesture and dodged around the people in the lobby to reach him. Stopping in front of the boy he nodded a little.

"Sam."

"Nathen," The other replied, extending a hand. Sam awkwardly shook it, visibly shocked feeling the cold metal on the back of his hand through his gloves. Nathen smiled a little, "Implant. Flat version of a Lucario's spikes, I think."

"Ah, I see. I didn't really get anything physical from mine…" Sam replied, withdrawing his hand to his bag strap as he shifted his feet. "My friend on the other hand…"

"Wings, right? Joy said." Nathen replied, "Yeah, makes sense… I've never seen something that big before but I do steer clear of hot spots of people like us just in case," He added, standing up, stretching out a little. "Think she'll be long? I… kinda don't want them out there alone for too long."

"Shouldn't be. We'll help, by the way, if you hadn't guessed. Only condition is we can get out of there if it starts to risk out own safety," Sam said. Nathen replied with a nod, clasping his hands.

"Same reason I steer clear from hotspots, I get ya. I can accept that." He was putting on a calm front now, but Samuel could see he was still nervous, his hands were repeatedly clenching and then moments later relaxing to appear calm again. Glancing back to check if his friend was coming he sighed seeing she wasn't, "So… what are you then…?"

"Typhlosion," Sam sighed, sitting down on one of the other chairs, "You're Lucario, you said?"

"And others," The other boy replied, leaning back. Sam's eyes visibly widened, not having heard of a multi-implant so far. "Yeah I get that look a lot when I mention it… They really went to town on me."

"Surely that should kill a person…"

"Apparently not. Took me longer to accept the implants apparently, they must have had me for a while, but it worked," He said, sighing softly. Of course he didn't mention the affiliation that probably saved him when any other case would have been given up on.

Sam could only nod in response to this, chewing his lip and glancing again to look for his friend, waiting for the moment of awkwardness to be broken, though he soon turned back when he couldn't see her yet again, "And your friends?"

"Embolf and Blaziken. Not so worried about the Blaziken girl, she can handle herself, implant or not, but the Embolf girl… well… yeah she's more vulnerable." Sam again could only nod and reflexively check for Seira's return. Nathen leant back and relaxed as much as he could, though his hands were gripping at the seat, not saying anything else.

Seira, wings stiff as rods, walked out about ten minutes later. Looking around for Sam she spotted him and walked straight towards him and the boy she assumed must be the one they were doing to help. Sam noticed her quickly, waving at her, her having to resist waving her wings back out of instinct. Instead she walked straight to him and stood right by his side as he got to his feet.

"This is Nathen, he's a multiple implantee… his friends are out in the forest, and he agrees we can leave if we feel too threatened. Still okay with this?" Sam asked her, touching her arm. Seira paused for a moment before nodding, linking her arm with his. "Alright, then we're ready."

Nathen was on his feet before he even finished the sentence, "Good. Let's get going."

~X~X~X~

**I'll apologise again. I've had most of this chapter ready for a few months, it was just getting the motivation to finish it. It'll probably be TP next, after this, though that could be a while as I need to refresh my memory on it and I'm still needing to work on school stuff and my book.**

**R&R, anyone who still cares**


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